The Girl From The Middle Of Somewhere
by MrMacju
Summary: How did Kinessa from Paladins came to be? What made her who she is now? I have absolutely no idea, but this isn't about what's right. It's my own take on Kinessa's backstory. And don't worry, pretty much everything will fit into official lore eventually.
1. Chapter 1: The End

The Girl From The Middle Of Somewhere

Part 1: The End

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

That was the cycle of life for snipers. Watching their targets through the safety of the scope, hoping that their aim wouldn't sway. A missed shot could mean death, and so steady breathing is one of the first things a professional sharpshooter has to learn. As long as their aim is true, they don't have to risk a follow-up shot, which could expose them.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

As she was doing this, Kinessa wished that she would be safely observing her next bounty from a bush or a building. Unseen, undetectable, only one shot and she would be off. But this time was different. At the moment her steady breathing wasn't to keep her shot steady. She was breathing, because they were going to be the last breaths of her life.

Eyes unfocused, Kinessa stared ahead. The poison was making it hard, but she could still see the vague outline of a person few meters ahead of her. Unmoving. Just the way she liked it. Pieces of falling debris were clouding her vision further, but still she kept looking, savouring every sight, not focusing on what they happened to be. Seeing was the most important thing, because soon even that would be taken away from her, just as a lot had already been.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Her vision was fading fast. Even the slightest of movement was causing massive amounts of pain, but even the pain was starting to go away. Her time was coming. Just as she knew it would in the end. She had lasted surprisingly long, considering her profession and past. But everything has to stop at some point, and Kinessa had used all of her momentum for this final rush. Now there was nothing left. No one to push her moving again. There was only one thing at the end of the road, and everyone knew all too well what it was.

"Was I successful?" She thought out loud.

"Could I have done something differently?"

Of course she could have. But there was no going back to the past. No matter what, those were walls that no one could go through. Even in this realm of magic and wonder, the mysteries of time were still unsolved. And she wouldn't be there to see the day they would be discovered.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

These were the final moments. All the pain, all the suffering, all the losses. All the happiness, all successes, all regrets, had led to this point, just as it was destined to be.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't help you, Mars."

These were some of the last words of Kinny Nessa Duskstalker. The famous bounty hunter, sharpshooter and adventurer.

"And thanks, S. I couldn't have done it without you."

She was also known as "The Survivor of Southwold", or "That scary-ass chick with a big gun and no time for nonsense". Though unofficial, the title had always amused her. And who wouldn't.

"I'll be seeing you soon", she said just as the final bits of her conciousness were starting to fade.

But to some people, though all of them deceased by now, she was known by another name. A name she left behind when she left the place she called home.

To them, she was "The Girl From The Middle Of Somewhere."

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.


	2. Chapter 2: The Beginning

The Girl From The Middle Of Somewhere

Part 2: The Beginning

12 years earlier

"Bullseye!" Echoed the scream of a delighted child amidst the buildings. "Did you see that?"

"Of course I saw it, Kinny. It was a great shot, but you're gonna have to do better than that if you wanna beat me," said an older man, maybe in his 40s. He was tall, quite fit and had black hair, brown eyes and tired features. His outfit was as unremarkable as the man himself, with brown, short sleeved shirt and dull grey pants. He didn't wear shoes, since they were walking across soft summer grass.

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm gonna make sure you'll eat those words in a bit! Just give me 30 minutes, and I'll beat your score!" Squealed the little girl. She was barely 10 years old, with few teeth missing from her wide smile. Short brown hair accentuated her wide eyes. Her dress was a bit loose on the shoulders, but the girl didn't even notice it over her excitement. Her defining feature was her tanned skin, which stood out clearly from the rest of the villagers, who were naturally quite pale, even during the summer.

Though it was no wonder she was so different from her neighbors. Little Kinny had been the mystery girl of Easthaven a little over 9 years now. It was the tale villagers liked to remind each other of whenever Kinny walked past.

* * *

It had been a normal morning in Easthaven, a little village at the eastern border of the kingdom. The villagers were waking up, and started their morning routines. Blacksmiths heated up their forges, bakers prepared their furnaces and seamstresses checked their threads. No one paid any attention to the town's old fountain, until soft cries started coming out of it it. A few passerbys took notice and went to see what the commotion was all about. To their surprise, in the old fountain there was a baby girl, wrapped in some dusty rags. She had to be barely 3 months old. Her skin was dark brown, like some of the southeners who occasionally passed through the village. But none had been there for a few months, so the girl couldn't be theirs. In 10 minutes, the whole village had come to see the child, who had surprisingly calmed down, even though a few dozen townspeople were staring at her. That was until one of the women picked her up from the fountain. That's when she started screaming like there's no tomorrow. No matter what they did, the villagers could not get her to calm down, and the only way was to put her down to the fountain again. Pretty much all the villagers tried, from mothers, to grandfathers, to teens. Finally, someone emerged who could pick up the girl without causing a fuss out of her. That someone was Mars Duskstalker.

Mars was almost as big of a mystery as the girl was. He had lived in Easthaven all his life, except for when he went to the war. Howerver, when he returned, he had changed. Not like pretty much all the other veterans, who still had nightmares of great sieges and their comrades blowing to pieces. No, the biggest change in Mars was that he hadn't changed at all. When he came back home, he just greeted everyone, went back to his ranch and has been living there ever since, as if nothing happened. It was as though the war had had no effect on him, other than making him a bit tougher-looking. Everyone knew who he was, and he knew everyone and was good friends with them, but it was like a part of him was clouded, and no one could see through him. There were of course rumors.

Some said that he had been a part of His Majesty's special corps. Some said was the sole survivor of his unit. Some said that he had gotten a daughter with a mysterious woman he met in the war, who had then dissappeared with their child. And most just assumed he had downed one bottle too many.

Anyway, he was not the type anyone had assumed would be good with children, but as he was pressed to try to pick up the girl, she just cooed softly in his arms and started napping, which made Mars very uncomfortable.

Math wasn't his area of expertise, but he could count together: Mysterious child in the middle of the village + The only man who can handle her without breaking their eardrums + No girl's parents nowhere to be seen and no point of origin = "Well, since we can't do anything, let's just give the girl to Mars."

And so the little girl was placed under the care of the former soldier, which worked out surprisingly well. Some mothers taught Mars the basics of raising children so he could get started, and when the girl's parents didn't appear, he legally adopted her as his daughter. The name of the girl came to be Kinny Nessa Darkstalker.

From that point life went on as usual for the whole village. The only difference being the new, dark-skinned girl who had become a part of the usual view around the town. Since little Kinny wasn't a fan of babysitters, her adoptive father had to bring her pretty much everywhere. That bothered neither of them, since Kinny radiated with joy whenever she got to be with Mars, and Mars too was pretty pleased with the new toddler in his life. Whenever he went to the fields, he put Kinny under the shade of the great oak. Some villagers were terrified of his recklessness, but Mars knew that his daughter would never crawl away. She just adored him too much to go chasing butterflies. When she learned to walk, Kinny became an ustoppable force which blitzed around the village and its beautiful countryside. Growing up in Easthaven was as perfect as it could get, and not once did Kinny have to shed a tear for something. Since she was the only child her age in the village, everyone treated her as if she was the center of the town. And in her young mind, Kinny kinda thought she was.

Her first word was, unsurpisingly, Mars. Well, actually it was more like "Maas", but it was still her first try. Turned out Kinny was quite smart, since she learned to speak understandably by the time she was 2,5 years old. And she only improved her vocabulary in the following months. When she turned 3, she could already have quite long and sensible conversations with her father, even though they were usually about birds which had flown over her earlier. When Kinny turned 5, she got the best birthday present a girl can dream of: Her very own doll! Atleast that's what the villagers thought, until Kinny proudly presented them her brand new slingshot. She was the daughter of a former soldier after all, and it seemed like her father wanted her daughter to atleast be able to hit something. And so every time Kinny wanted to (And that was quite often) she dragged Mars to her very own shooting range to train her. At first the only targets were tin cans on the fence, but when she turned 7, Mars upgraded the range with wooden targets, which could be moved around with a lever, and got their power from a small crystal to which Kinny used her weekly allowance to power up every Sunday. And as her skills and confidence grew, she got a permission from Mars to shoot the crows which were always picking their crops. These were by far the hardest targets Kinny had tried to hit, but she managed it with an almost unnatural precision. At that point Mars agreed to compete against her in "Kinny's Weekly Slingchamp Competition."

* * *

Which brings us back to the beginning, where Kinny and Mars are starting their little contest number 107 on Kinny's 10th birthday.

"Oh come on Kinny, do you happen to remember that I have been crowned the champion of Kinny's Weekly Slingchamp Competition for 106 times already? You can't beat that with just half an hour of extra practise." Said Mars, smiling softly at the little girl.

"Oh, just wait and see, old man!" Kinny snapped back. "I'm gonna beat you so hard, you'll be too embarrassed to show your face at the town square in the evening!" Kinny stuck her tongue out at the end of the sentence, which Mars swiftly grabbed.

"Crady man! Leet me goo!" She begged. Mars chuckled. "Don't expose you weak spots to the enemy, you never know when they might strike back," he said, letting go.

"Oooooh, you're going to regret that, Mars!", Kinny shouted as menacingly as she could, which wasn't very much with her 10-year-old voice. Mars chuckled again. "I'll be waiting."

At this point it should be noted, that Kinny had never called Mars her dad. He was very dear and just like a father to her, but she had always called him just Mars, which he had quickly accepted. Their relation was like the one between a father and daughter, but those who didn't know of the situation might think that Mars was Kinny's uncle. This was one of the many oddities in Darkstalker household.

Without even bothering with the firing range, Kinny went straight to the fields, looking for some live targets.

"I gotta do my best today," she thought to herself. "I can't let Mars beat me 107 times in a row, or else he won't let me forget it for a month. Especially on my birthday."

The day they were celebrating Kinny's birhtday wasn't of course actually her birthday. 2 months after she had appeared, a young warlock had went through the village, and managed to tell Mars that Kinny was about 5 months old after a few tests. So they just decided that the day they found Kinny was her birthday. Mars himself wasn't one for such celebrations, bu the knew that once Kinny learned what they were, she would be very upset if she didn't get her birthday present. Kids can cause a lot of work.

After 25 minutes were up, Kinny had managed to down 9 crows. Confident in her skills, she returned to Mars, who was waiting outside their makeshift firing range. "Ah, you're back. Ready to face your shame?", he asked. "You just be prepared to tell everyone you lost to a 10-year-old!", Kinny replied. "Alrighty then, I take that as a yes."

* * *

10 minutes later.

Kinny's Weekly Slingchamp Competition Number 107 was well underway. Mars had finished his turn, with almost perfect 49 points. He had missed the last moving target, which had been supercharged just for this occasion, so it moved twice as fast. Kinny had finished stationaries and was on her last moving targets, having 47 points total with 2 targets plus the supercharged left.

"I can actually do this!", she thought to herself as she racked another bullseye. And after that, another.

"Well, you might have gotten lucky 49 times, but the last one is a real bummer. I could hardly see it, so good luck with that. Just aim where it's gonna be 1 second from the start, and hope for the best," Mars called to her from the controller area.

The seconds before the final shot crept longer than they should have. Kinny could feel cold sweat dripping down her neck. "This is is. The final moment. If I hit this, you'll be the champion for the first time in your life,"she thought to herself. But she couldn't handle the stress. 106 times she had been forced to listen Mars's speech of how one day, with enough practise, she would be better than him. "But I don't need to practise anymore. I want that day to be today!", she panicked just before Mars shouted "Go!"

Kinny was utterly devastated. She has forgotten to aim correctly in her panic, and now the target would fly past her without a hope of her hitting it.

At that moment, Kinny realized that right now, she wanted nothing more than to hit that target, to finally beat Mars, even though her window of opportunity had already closed.

"No."

Kinny whispered.

"It can't."

And so she forced the window open again.

Afterwards, she didn't really remember what happened. Just as she was about to give up on hitting the target, her desire to do so seemed to bend to her will, and she could almost hear a clock slowing down. As Kinny looked up, she was astonished. Afterwards, she could only describe it as if time itself had slowed down, with the target moving under a half it's original speed. But at the moment, it felt like a world of possibilities had unraveled in front of her, and without a thought she hit the final bullseye. Kinny allowed a wide smile to creep to her face. "Finally," she thought, before passing out.

Mars couldn't find the words. First it looked like Kinny was surely gonna miss. He didn't feel too bad about, she could just try again next week. But then, as if the very laws of reality had wanted her to succeed, she raised her slingshot with inhuman grace and accuracy and hit the target just as it was about to pass by without showing even the slightest of effort. In fact, her face could have been a mask of serenity, not the face of a stressed-out girl it had been only a second later. Then she collapsed.

In panic, Mars ran to her side. A quick check confirmed that she still had a pulse. "Thank gods, she just passed out," he whispered to himself. "Still," he thought, "What was that?" Mars had never seen anyone shoot like that, like hitting the target would be as simple as breathing. "Kinny Nessa Darkstalker, what are you?", he asked himself. "No, who are you?", he corrected himself. Mars knew that he would have to ask Kinny later about that, but at the moment he had to revive his daughter. And he had a promise to keep.

"Well champ, you finally won. Now it's just the big question: Strawberry or chocolate?

Even in her unconcious state, Mars thought he saw a slight hint of a smile.


	3. Chapter 3: Tears

The Girl From The Middle Of Somewhere

Part 3: Tears

"Really? Both?"

"Of course! This is a day worth celebrating. So why not?"

"Well, whatever you say..."

Kinny couldn't pick, so she had decided to take both strawberry and chocolate ice cream. And due to the circumstances, Mars was forced to agree on the matter.

"But still, how did you manage that last shot? It was basically gone already, and then you just hit it like it's nothing," asked Mars. Kinny pondered this for a moment. "I'm not really sure," she finally said. "I don't remember much of it. At the last moment I just somehow realized that it was possible. Does that sound weird? Because it sure does to me."

"Well, if it's that hard to explain, then why don't we just blame good luck for it?", Mars asked with a snarky smile. "Do not even think about it! I beat you fair and square, and you owe me an ice cream, with both strawberry and chocolate in it," Kinny burst out and pouted her lips in frustration.

"Well, whatever you say, kiddo. But I'm still gonna get my revenge next week."

"Well, if it isn't Kinny, The Girl From The Middle of Somewhere. Haven't seen you around here in a while. Old man still giving you a beating?", aked the man at the ice cream place.

"Just so you know, Robert, I won today, and now he has to buy me both of my favorites," Kinny announced proudly. "Both? Jeez, Mars, how badly did she beat you? Has the pupil finally beat the master? Do we have a warrior princess underway?", Robert wondered. Mars shrugged. "Maybe some day, but today it was mostly luck. But a promise is a promise." "It wasn't luck, and you know it! Just wait until we get home, then I'm gonna take you on again, and invite the whole village to watch! Let's see how well you can lose your face, LOSER!" Her outburst turned a few heads at their direction, but most of the townfolk had already got used to Kinny's occasional fiery temper. "Calm your head, young lady," Robert said coolly. "I believe you, and you'll get your ice cream. Ok? Just don't beat up your old man any further, or he's not gonna get up again."

Still fuming, Kinny walked with Mars to their usual table. She promptly tried to steal Mar's chair for her plate, but was visibly calmed down, so he just moved it in front of her and sat down. While observing his daughter swallow down her huge dish, (Mars had no idea how the girl was stuffing it all in) his mind returned to the earlier events. "Really, what did she do?", Mars pondered. "Could it have been magic? Is Kinny a natural mage? No, can't be. That same warlock who tested her age also stated that she had no potential for arcane powers. Then what? She can't explain it herself, and I've never seen anything like that." Mars was awakened from his thoughts by the sound of Kinny snapping her fingers.

"Hello? Anyone home? Are you gonna sit there daydreaming all evening, or can we move on?"

Mars was astounded. It had barely been 7 minutes, during which Kinny had emptied the whole plate. That girl had the sweet tooth of a mammoth. "Did you really eat all that? Are you sure you just didn't drop some for the dogs? "Well, order another one, and I'll prove it to you," she suggested. "Oh no, you're not having any sweets for a week after that performance," Mars replied. Kinny shrugged. "Well, the you should consider hiding the cookie jar better. Week 22. It's in the cupboard today, isn't it?

Mars made a mental note to keep a better eye on his daughter.

* * *

The trip home was quiet for the pair. Mars had fallen deep into his thoughts, while Kinny was feeling a bit sick from the huge amount of ice cream she had eaten, despite insisting on otherwise. Besides that, her spirits were high. The day had been going perfectly. With Mars defeated, she could dedicate even more time to honing her skills, until she would be unstoppable! Being unstoppable with a slingshot might not be the highest ranking position in the world, but hey, let the kid dream. Mars, however, didn't seem to sense Kinny's enthusiasm. He had been searching his memories the entire day, trying to recall anything which might have explained Kinny's sudden "burst" of expertise. And so his thoughts wandered to the letter hidden in the secret compartment in his desk. "S might be able to explain it, or atleast give some guidance," he thought. "But I haven't seen or spoken to the old gang for years, so better not to bother them with a simple matter such as this. The answer will probably come to us eventually." That was the moment when Kinny decided that thinking should stop for a moment. And this decision made itself known as a hit directed at Mars's elbow. "OW!", he screamed as the girl's small but surprisingly sturdy fist connected. "What was that for?" "For ignoring me when I should be the star of the day, of course!", Kinny said. "Now come on, I heard that Ralph caught a real bear today, and I wanna see it!" Before Mars even understood exactly what she was talking about, Kinny had sprinted to the end of the road. "Some of these days, we're gonna have a talk about the value of patience," Mars growled and started to make his way to the same direction.

It was infact a real bear. Full-grown and furious at being caged and brought for the whole village to gawk at. "Woah, look at that, that must be the biggest bear ever!", Mars heard Kinny's excited squeal from the middle of the mob that had gathered around the cage. "World's biggest bear?", he mumbled. "T would laugh her braid loose if she heard that." "Did you say something?", Kinny's voice suddenly appeared beside him. Mars hadn't even noticed how quickly the girl had flanked the group. "Who's T? Is she familiar with bears? Why haven't you told about her before?", she bombarded him with questions. "Not important, just someone I used to know, and I don't want to talk about it," Mars responded a bit too swiftly. "Ok then...", Kinny fell back, obviously disappointed. "But I do know that you have had some kinds of friends in the past. And someday you're gonna tell me about them!", she continued her assault. Mars sighed. "Maybe one day, but at the moment you don't need to know about that. Didn't you come here to see a furious bear?" "Oh yeah, come take a closer look. It looks like it wants to rip us to shreds!", Kinny said with enthusiasm uncharacteristic for her age.

So of course it was that moment that the bear decided to calm down. Well, calm down doesn't really describe the fact that the bear suddenly became deathly quiet and retreated further into its cage, wailing quietly. "Well, that was disappointing," Kinny described the event. "Why isn't it scary and furious anymore? Nobody wants to see a quiet bear!", she rambled on, not noticing that every other person was just as quiet as the bear was, shocked by the sudden change in its behaviour. Mars felt a cold chill run down his spine. Not really knowing why, he grabbed Kinny started to walk towards home. His senses told him that something was wrong, but they couldn't really tell what. "Well, ok, let's just go. We've already seen everything important.", Kinny admitted. "Besides, we're not gonna let some stupid bear ruin this perfect day, eh Mars?"

And that's when things went down.

* * *

ALERT! ALERT! 4TH WALL BREAK INCOMING!

The author looked at his text for a moment. Then he proceeded to shoot himself for all the clichés he had used.

4TH WALL BREAK ENDING, RETURNING TO THE STORY!

* * *

Catastrophe is not usually hard to spot coming. In this case, it manifested itself as hundreds of black figures amidst burning fires which appeared on top of the hills surrounding Easthaven. Nobody could even scream "Oh shoot, those look like bad guys!", when large balls of fire erupted from somewhere behind the hills, apparently thrown by some kind of machines. The fireballs impacted in and around the village, causing massive explosions and lighting multiple fires. Noises of the panic started immediately, as the people of the peaceful town experienced something new: they were under attack. From the hills, another figure emerged. This one was not clad in black, but instead purple. It seemed female. The fact which was confirmed, as a powerful yet also graceful female voice sounded over the hills: "Okay boys, you know why we're here! Remember: The girl is the target. Casualties are completely acceptable. Just remember to bring her alive, or else this was all for nothing, and I will decapitate you myself!"

At that moment, something also changed about Mars. His gaze hardened; his stance tightened, as he mumbled out loud: "Gods, NOW I understand…". Then he proceeded to drag his daughter up the hill towards their house. Shocked Kinny didn't even object, not knowing how to handle the situation. As screams of panic she had never heard in her hometown filled the air, she started to tremble. "Mars! What's happening,? Who are they? Why are they doing this?", She cried out loud. Mars didn't seem to hear. He rushed to the desk in the corner of their living room. he tore open the secret compartment, grabbed the letter and handed it to Kinny. "Run this to the pidgeon tower. Give this to Swoop, and come back as fast as you can. RIGHT. NOW.", Mars hardened his words as he spotted defiance in the girl's eyes. Kinny nodded, grabbed the letter and made a run for it to the pidgeon tower nearby. "So, it has come to this again," he thought out loud.

Kinny was back in under a minute. "I gave the letter to Swoop, and he just left without even asking for seeds! Could you explain what all this is? Do you know those attackers? And what is THAT?", she questioned, as Mars pulled out a metallic object, which looked a lot like a gun. Probably because it was. "A gun? Since when did we have a gun? Where did you get it?" Mars could sense that Kinny was at the edge of hysteria, so he quickly rushed to her side. "Listen, kid. For once, be quiet and listen." Mars's gaze could have frozen a forge. "Before you can ask, yes, I was in the Army. No time to tell more. I have kept this rifle, since I always feared that this day might come. The letter you sent summoned help, and they will soon be on their way. So now I'm going to go out and save our fellow villagers. Do you understand?" Kinny nodded, but then seemed to change her mind. "Wait, YOU'RE going to help them? No way, I'm coming too! We'll protect this town together. We will always be together, like we have always been! I won't leave you, and you're not gonna leave me, whatever it takes! Got it?" She was practically shouting now. Mars sighed. "I knew you would react this way. Just as I pretty much knew that this day would come. So I also knew to take precautions. No hard feelings, Kiddo."

Kinny felt a little prick, and immediately started to feel drowsy. She looked, and saw a tiny needle poking out of her shoulder, which she immediately yanked out. But it was too late. "Sedatives," she thought before collapsing, hardly conscious. She somehow knew that the amount of the drug had been carefully measured to match her specific body proportions by someone who knew her really well. That certain someone was now smiling sadly in front of her half-closed eyelids. "Don't you worry about me," Mars told her. "Help is on the way, but I gotta go help our friends. How else are you gonna get to taste Robert's ice cream again? You're a strong girl, and you will thrive. And yes, we will never part ways. One way or another, we will always support eachother. So it has been from the day you came here, and I couldn't have asked for more. You can take on the world. I know you can.

Goodbye, kiddo.

Goodbye, Kinny.

Goobye, my daughter."

The last thing Kinny saw before blacking out on the day her world ended, was Mars disappearing through the doorway into a world full of red and black flames, with a single purple figure far, far away.

* * *

7 hours later

She woke up groggily. Kinny had never been a heavy sleeper, but at the moment she felt like not waking up at all, scared of what might happen when her eyes opened. But life won't go on when you're just lying down, so slowly she parted the blackness covering her eyes, and saw the final outcome of the night before.

Easthaven was no more. In its place was a barren, blackened land with burnt-down buildings, scorched fields and incinerated corpses of her fellow villagers. Kinny scanned her surroundings. The house was mostly intact, with no signs of fires, but a small part of the roof had collapsed on top of her, which she could easily push away. Standing up, Kinny felt unfamiliar emptiness, which filled her with dread. The apparent source was the realization that her town and friends were no more. Panic and overwhelming sadness started making their way up her throat, as she walked out of the house which used to be her home. Now, it was not anymore, not when Mars hadn't been there to wish her good morning with a neutral expression. Roof planks had left her with quite a bit of cuts and bruises, but she didn't seem to notice, as she walked out to the unfamiliar world. All building ruined. Trees burnt down. Even her shooting range looked like it had been hit by a meteor. Kinny felt like she was about to burst.

And that's when she saw Mars.

Mars had apparently wanted to come back sometime later to either wake up Kinny or take her somewhere else, but hadn't quite made it. He laying in the middle of the road, on his back, the rifle still in his hand but broken now. However, the most curious thing was that blades or arrows or fire hadn't killed him. Instead, he appeared to be full of some kinds of purple spikes, which had foul-smelling liquid of the same color dripping from them. As soon as Kinny recognised the figure, she made her way towards it and collapsed in front of her adoptive father's remains. Mars, who had taken her in and raised her. Mars, who had taught her how to shoot and work. Mars, who she had to thank for all the positive aspects of her life, who had always been there for her, who had always looked after her, who had been her whole world even more than the village her whole life.

It started raining. But it was different than any other kind of rain Kinny had seen before. It had a salty taste, and it only seemed rain at the spot she was sitting at. With a shocked thought, Kinny realized they were tears. Her tears. Living such a perfect and happy life, Kinny had never had to cry. The last time she had cried was when she had arrived at the village and anyone other than Mars had picked her up, which was a fact she did not remember. But there she was, crying a lifetime of unfamiliar tears in an unfamiliar place in front of Mars's body. Tears which came from her very heart, trying to remove all memories of the worst night of her life through her eyes, her loud sobbing the only noise in the ruins of Easthaven. Every tear she shed seemed to bring two new ones, until the ground in front of her really looked as if a small cloud of bottomless grief sat over it. Because Kinny's world had ended, and nothing else mattered anymore.

* * *

"Well, I think this is the place. Seems like we're too late."

"You think? Even a troll could notice that. I don't know why I had to even track them. This seems like an easy trail for anyone."

"Shut up, both. We need to see if anyone is alive."

New voices had emerged at the entrance of Easthaven. One was a male, with slight accent. The other one was a woman, and the third was also a man, but his voice had a gravely serious tone.

"Well, not much we could have done. If only they had lived closer, we would have gotten the message sooner.", said the first man.

"You know very well that Mars gave up on the job long ago, and wanted to live peacefully. He knew the risks, and that they only increased when he took the girl.", the second man snapped back.

"Well, seems like we're too late to save either, let alone anyone else. Shall we just go back, or want to look for non-existent survivors? You know, they never leave any." Continued the first. The female stopped them

"Be quiet! You make more noise than an Eithapian Killer Hamster! I hear something."

They listened. From somewhere far away, they hear loud sobbing. The noise seemed to come from one of the farther farms. It sounded like a girl's voice.

The woman gasped. "A little girl, in one of the most remote places in the village? You thinking what I'm thinking?"

The second male seemed almost amused "Seems like the gods have favoured someone today. Come on, maybe this wasn't all for naught. I think we're about the meet Mars's girl.


	4. Chapter 4: The Rebirth

The Girl From the Middle Of Somewhere

Part 4: The Rebirth

15 minutes later, Kinny was still overwhelmed with grief. The tears still streaking from her eyes combined with the sound of loud crying meant that she didn't even notice the small group approaching her until they were right besides her. Slowly she rose to look at the trio. They were an odd bunch. There was a man with brown hair and hard features, dressed in a military outfit of some sorts. His greenish jacket, blue pants and combat boots showed he was ready for action, those, and the ammo belt across his chest and grenades on his belt. The other figure was a woman. Scarred and dressed in an outfit made from various cloths and animal hides, she was quite an impressive sight. Her blonde hair was braided and hung over her right shoulder, framing her determined face. Also, she had a coat which seemed to be made from a bear. The third figure was also a male, but very different from his companion. He donned a hooded poncho, which was decorated with bird feathers. His cold and calculated face was adorned with warpaint. This small but diverse group had one thing in common, which Kinny had noticed immediately: they were heavily armed. In her grief-ridden state, however, the girl could only stare at them with weary and teary eyes, awaiting for a reaction of some kind, anything that could state their business. However, she could not have expected for the man with the poncho to step forward and simply say "You must be Kinny."

Quite shockingly, Kinny was not a bit dazed about the fact that these complete strangers knew her name. "Yes, I am," she responded calmly, before kneeling back to Mars's body. The man sighed. "You have to leave him for now. We need to talk, and this place is unsafe," he stated.

"Shut up. I'm never gonna leave him. I promised, and those kinds of promises are made to keep," Kinny responded quietly. The woman joined in. "Kinny, we know how you feel, but we need to move to cover, or…"

"YOU SHUT UP! YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF ANYTHING! I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU, SO JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Kinny straight up exploded. Her face blazing with anger, she stood up to express her wrath on these strangers who tried to take Mars away from her. She was just about to punch the woman, when the man in military gear grabbed her. "Not so fast, kiddo. You need us, whether you know it or not," he told Kinny. "I don't need anybody! Just leave and never come back!", Kinny struck back. The man with the poncho suddenly grabbed both her shoulders and looked her straight to eyes. "You obviously don't want our help, but Mars thought you did. That's why we came. So are we going to talk like civilized people here, or do you want to continue your assault? Believe me, you wouldn't last a second against her.", he told. That silenced Kinny. Her name was one thing, but Mars? Anyone who knew Mars was someone worth listening to. She nodded quietly. "Ok. I assume this is your house? We shall continue there."

* * *

"I guess we forgot to introduce ourselves. I'm Viktor, this guy here is Strix and that lovely lady is Tyra," explained the man in military clothes. "Call me lovely again and I will cut off your tongue," Tyra threatened. Strix raised his voice. "Could you two be quiet for a little bit? Kinny has had a horrible day, and we need to keep this quick so we can get a move on," he said, nodding at the girl slumped against the corner in the living room they had ended up in. Kinny's gaze was unfocused and distant, but she nodded, claiming to be listening. Strix cleared his throat. "As we were saying, Mars sent us the letter as soon as the attack started. I think he had anticipated that something like this would happen ever since you came to live with him. I'm quite sure he himself didn't even know why, but that's how we were trained. "We? Who exactly are "We"?", Kinny rose her head in interest. "The Special Guard of the Kingdom. Mars probably never told you about his past. He was pretty closed up, even back then. Well, anyway, he was a part of the unit during the war, and we were his squadmates. We were given all the most dangerous missions, which required both special expertise and soldiers willing to give their life for the Kingdom. Our unit was one of the longest operational units in the whole army, and it took a toll on all of us, especially Mars. After he had served, he retired to Easthaven, and we only heard of him rarely. The rest of us returned to normal duties soon after," Strix explained. Kinny wasn't surprised. She had anticipated something like that, and the big revelation didn't shock her much. "But how does this relate to what happened?", she questioned. Viktor continued. "It doesn't, directly, but Mars had told us to leave immediately to Easthaven if we got his emergency letter, because that meant that you were in danger. And yes, he told us about you. It was one of his last letters. He told all about how you had appeared in the fountain and been entrusted to him, and that he had certain doubts about your origin. Didn't tell us what, but he told us to be ready at a moment's notice if we got the call. He was a capable man, and everything which required him to call for backup is not something to be taken lightly." The explanation only made Kinny hungry for more. "But who were those attackers? What did they want with us?" "They probably had nothing against the village," Tyra cut in, "But they had something to do with you. Nothing else would have gotten Mars to send the letter. And it's a miracle they didn't find you. Maybe they didn't have the brains to look under the rubble. As to who they were, they were an army called The Decimators, led by a woman who goes by the name of Baroness. Not much is known about her, only that she is meddling with dark forces and is responsible for The Decimators. Also, apparently she has had twenty-seven marriages. Talk about a busy woman." "I did hear them saying something about a girl they needed to capture," Kinny remembered. Tyra nodded. "Then it's confirmed that they were searching for you. Of course, it could have been someone else, but considering your mysterious past, it's likely to be you." "There was also a woman dressed in purple clothes giving orders to those men. Was she the Baroness?", Kinny asked. The group looked at each other, pondering. Finally Viktor spoke again. "Doesn't match any of the descriptions we have heard of her, and we have heard a lot. Disrupting Decimator operations was one of our larger tasks during the war, so we do have quite a bit of history with the group. The woman you saw was probably one of her liutenants. It's hard to get news without proper spies, but we have heard that the Baroness has hired some kind of an assassin to her army. That might have been her. By the looks of Mars's body, he might have been personally killed by her, which makes the rumours true."

Kinny felt new kind of anger building up. Thirst for revenge. She wanted to see the Baroness and the unknown assassin fall. No, she wanted to kill them herself. She knew that these thoughts were quite unusual for a 10-year-old, but she couldn't have cared less. She wasn't a simple child anymore. Her life had changed from the moment the army had appeared from behind the hills, and things like revenge and killing now felt completely acceptable to her. Fists clenched, she asked the group the final question which had been nagging at her mind ever since she noticed that her adoptive father was dead. "So, what happens now?", Kinny questioned. Strix exhanged more glances with his companions, before turning around and asnwering. "Well, it's clear that you can't just return to your old life. Try to stay calm when I say this, but your town is destroyed and your guardian is dead (A few tears escaped Kinny's eyes.) so you cannot stay here. The Decimators might still be searching the area in case you escaped, so it's just a matter of time before they discover you. The only option we see now is that you'll come with us to the Capital, and try to continue your life there. And don't even think about going anywhere alone. Mars made it clear that if something were to happen to him, one of us would be responsible for you. Got it?" Kinny nodded, but before she could open her mouth, Strix cut her off. "AND we will bury Mars before we leave, if that's what you wanted to know. You'll have time to say goodbye, but we must be swift. Some patrols could spot us any minute now, and their temporary base is probably within a kilometer of so. Are we clear?" Kinny nodded again, this time not trying to ask anything anymore. Past had been handled, for now, and the only thing to look towards was the future. Viktor clapped his hands. "Alright, attention, ladies and gentleman. Seems like we have much to do, so let's get to work!"

* * *

While Viktor and Tyra were digging the grave, Strix prepared the body and Kinny seached the nearby unburnt meadows for flower to decorate it with. As she retuned, she saw Mars. He looked a lot like he was sleeping, with no signs of the horrible purple spikes or any other injuries. "Strix must have had a lot of practise in this," she thought to herself as she laid out the prettiest flowers she could find in front of him. Viktor and Tyra came back a bit later, informing the pair that the grave had been dug, and that they had even managed to craft a crude coffin from various planks. After all was said and done, Strix told Kinny to go back to the house and pack everything she wanted to take with her, so that they could leave immediately after the ceremony. She complied, making a run for her former home, hoping to get away from all the painful memories as soon as possible. Once inside, Kinny scanned her room, making an inventory. She needed her spare clothes. Food wasn't necessary, since Tyra claimed that they had good supplies. She grabbed her favorite book, her camping supplies and slingshot. Then her gaze was fixed ontot he blue rock on the table. She had found it from the fields one day when she had been 7 years old. Mars had claimed it to be a crystal, and told Kinny to hold onto it, saying that "One day, it will protect you."

Kinny had always taken all of Mars's advice to heart, and so she had put it on the table, remembering to dust it every time some grit appeared on top of it. Now it reminded her of Mars more than anything else she owned, even more so than the slingshot. And so she stored the crystal to the back pocket of her backpack. Taking one lasts look around the house she had grown up in, and would never return to, Kinny dashed out of the door, slamming it behind her as she had done so many times when running away from Mars. Now, instead, she was running away from past.

Outside, the others had been busy. Mars's body had been carried next to the newly-dug grave and put into the coffin. Viktor had carved a tombstone out of a spare stone slab. It read " **Mars. A friend, a soldier, a protector. Bane of the black-hearted, father of Kinny.** Kinny wanted to object at the "Father of Kinny"-bit, but decided against it. Now, if ever, was the time to admit Mars as her father. The small group, three adults, one child, gathered around the coffin, staring at their friend, silently. "Shouldn't we be saying something," Kinny whispered, holding back more tears. "Mars was never one for long talks. If he wanted something to be said, it would probably have been from you," Tyra whispered back. Kinny swallowed her grief, and stepped forward. "Well, here we are, old man. Wouldn't have made it without you. And yes, I do believe you. I know that you are around here somewhere, watching, hoping for me to make some stupid mistake so you can gloat about it to the whole village. Never changing, eh? But we have to go now. Goodbye, Mars. Well, actually, goodbye, dad." During the last words, Kinny burst into tears, collapsing to the ground. Tyra rushed to comfort her, while Strix and Viktor put the lid of the coffin in its place and lowered it into the ground. Kinny's cries grew louder when they started to shovel dirt back on top of it, until Mars's final resting place was hidden from plain sight. The group grabbed their belongings and started to tow the weeping Kinny towards the main road of the former village. Viktor whistled, which summoned 3 horses from the woods. They got on, Kinny going behind Strix, hugging his waist tightly, but obviously starting to calm down. And so, the group started to make their way towards the Capital, the greatest city in the Kingdom, and a new beginning for Kinny.

* * *

Before they could leave the gate, however, Strix stopped the horses. He then turned to Kinny. "Hey kid, what's your full name?", he asked. Kinny looked confused. "Kinny Nessa Darkstalker. Why do you ask?" "Well, with The Decimators hunting you down, you really can't use your old name anymore. And since new names are quite easy to come up with from your old one…", Strix explained, but Kinny cut him off. "Yeah, I get it." Kinny thought about it for many minutes. She wasn't the little girl who had grown up in Easthaven anymore. She wasn't the daughter of Mars, or the one person who had defeated him in a pointless slingshot competition. No, she was a blank canvas, on which a skilled artist could paint the perfect picture. And she knew what kind of picture se wanted it to be. But all masterpieces need a name.

"Kinessa. From now on, I shall be known as Kinessa."

* * *

End of Act 1.


	5. Chapter 5: The Rise

The Girl From The Middle Of Somewhere

Part 5: The Rise

11 years later

Eleven years had passed since the day in Easthaven. Albeit a horrible event, the council had passed it off without giving a second thought. Many small villages around the Kingdom had suffered the same fate over the years, and such small things were quickly lost in the costant happenings of the Capital.

The city was a sight to behold. Great, snow-white walls surrounded the city built party on a hill. On top of the hill stood the great castle of the Kingdom, where the council and the king lived, taking care of the realm every day. Like all great cities, the rest of the Capital had been built around the castle itself. The houses were built out of the same white stone as the walls, with building on the hill housing the upper class, nearest to the protection of the castle. The ordinary people lived down below, at the ground level, in less luxury but still living good and peaceful lives. Poverty in the city was very small, and well organized trade routes kept the markets stocked up on merchandise. Countless farms surrounded the city walls, giving its inhabitants constant access to supplies. The whole city was really the pinnacle of advanced societies, with crystal-powered lamps keeping the city streets lit at night and effective sewer systems transporting all the waste out. The library was the greatest in the whole world, housing thousands upon thousands of books and scholars, who worked relentlessly to advance the achievements of science and magic. The city had its own police force, and in case of an attack, a great deal of soldiers working for the Kingdom's army were situated in the barracks built beside the castle. Really, if someone asked someone else about the best place to live in, they would probably response "The Capital." Even the Southern royalty, whose land was filled to the brim with riches, was always impressed when they visited the city. What better place would there have been to take a little girl to?

That was probably what Kinessa was also thinking when she first saw the great city in all of its glory. A new life, a new place to live in, new people to meet and new things to discover. After her situation was explained to the officials, she was allowed to stay in the city with a companion of her own choosing. She immeadiately chose Strix, whom she had bonded with during the journey. Strix didn't object, just grunted his approval and continued to stare into the distance with his steely gaze. Shortly after moving in, she managed to impress his new guardian with her skills with the slingshot after taking out some rats which had made home in Strix's apartment while he was away. After a short consideration, Strix asked whether Kinessa wanted to try out a real gun, which she immediately accepted. Turned out that she was a natural, as evident by her amazing first scores. The girl was eager to learn to defend herself, so that she could maybe one day take revenge on those who killed Mars. And so, after months of pushing, Strix eventually agreed to train her in the ways of the sniper.

That was eleven years ago, and since then a lot of things had changed. The city had grown, the Kingdom was flourishing, and, most importantly for our story, Kinessa was no longer a little girl.

* * *

In front of Strix's apartment, where years ago had stood a sorrowful girl, now stood a woman. Kinessa had aged up well. She was quite tall, her hair had gained extra volume, her body was very fit and she had generaly become an above-average woman. And that hadn't gone unnoticed from the city. When she arrived, she was the main attraction of the district. Tales of her misfortune spread quickly, and people from around the city came to greet her. But in a big town, such tales are forgotten fast, and soon the mysterious southern-looking girl was forgotten. Only a few years later when she began growing up did she gain attention again. It was clear from the start that she was going to be quite the looker, and that coupled with her exotic skin tone meant that she attracted the eye of many young males around the city. Kinessa, however, was not interested in any approaches from the opposite sex (or the same one, as it was also quickly noticed.), and so most of them realized to quickly leave her alone. Except some of the more stubborn ones. Usually she just drove them off with a couple of murderous glances, but few nasty incidents marked her stay in the city. The first one was Mark Brightwish. When Kinessa was 18 and spending her first night at the bar, Mark saw the opportunity to finally get close to the exotic beauty. However, as soon as he began to hit on her, he regretted it. Turned out Kinessa was naturally quite resistant to alchohol, and it did not make her an easier target. Quite the opposite, actually. She was quite pissed about some guy trying to ruin her night, and in front of the whole bar, gave him a verbal beatdown of such scale and severity that some of the sailors visiting the city at the time heard of it and came one day to ask her for guidance. She directed them to her own teacher, Tyra. As for Mark, he went home, stunned and silent after Kinessa's treatment. His neighbours claimed that he had cried himself to sleep for three weeks. However, that was nothing compared to the incident of James Cloudgaze, the rich playboy known as "Lasscatcher." He was extremely confident in his skills with women, and could snag a date withing minutes. When Kinessa was 20 and pretty much reached her physical maturity, James happened to spot her at the marketplace one day. Determined to be the first guy to score her, he approached Kinessa from behind, whipered "Hi, baby" into her ear, and briefly groped her.

Kinessa herself did not comment, but a crude version of the event could be assembled from the fightened tales of the passerbys. They said that after James had grabbed her, Kinessa turned around, murder in her eyes. What happened next couldn't have been put together without the dozen witnesses at the scene. In a span of exactly 3.2 seconds, Kinessa turned around and kicked James's right kneecap from the front. A loud crack was heard as his knee started to point into the opposite direction. After that, she swiftly flanked him as he was falling down, grabbed his left hand and broke his elbow. Still continuing the movement, she grabbed his right hand, flipped him to his back with it before letting it fall to the ground and stepping on it, breaking the palm of his hand and all fingers. He didn't even have time to register his severe injuries, as Kinessa grabbed him by his blonde, curly hair and hurled him at a nearby wall, breaking several of his ribs and tearing off a handful of his hair. As James hit the wall, he hit his head, falling into unconsciousness. After this, Kinessa just shaked the hair off her hand, spit onto the man lying in front of her, and continued on. After a few steps, she looked a bit nauseous, but passed it off and kept walking. The onlookers were just stood staring for about a minute before anyone realized that they should call for help.

Kinessa herself couldn't explain the inhuman feat, and didn't want to talk about the incident anymore. "I just hope that that idiot learnt from the first time. The second won't be so gentle," she said. Well, James really learned his lesson. His injuries were so severe that the cost of the healing took almost all of his gold, and he was forced to move out of the city into some small village in the countryside. He hasn't been heard of since. That was the cue for all the young wooers in the city to stay clear of Kinessa.

* * *

Back in the present, Kinessa had just woken up for her big day. A big day, which she hoped would go better than the first one. Actually, she had beforehand asked for her friends patrolling the city walls to keep an extra eye out for invading armies or other similar threats. This day was even more special than her 10th birthday. It was her 21st birthday, and also the day when she would try to join the army.

From the beginning, she had wanted to be a part of the royal army, but her age had of course prevented that. So, instead of learning to knit and dress up dolls like so many other girls her age, the 10-year-old Kinessa had went through harsh daily practise. Viktor, Strix and Tyra had put together a training program for her, so that when she finally turned 21, she would be better equipped to handle the test than any other recruit. Strix took care of the marksmanship. Her unusual accuracy made her the perfect sniper, and thus they had spent atleast two hours at the shooting range almost every day for 11 years. Her top scores were plastered onto the walls of the place, and they were quickly running out of room. Viktor was the trainer of her physical prowess. When she wasn't at his personal gym, Viktor was either lecturing her about proper diets or training her in hand-to-hand combat. And finally, Tyra was responsible for everything else. She taught her hunting, survival skills, stealth, swimming, climbing, crafting and a bit of dancing. (You never know when you have to infiltrate a ball.) This program, coupled with natural talent and determination had in eleven years turned her from a sweet little girl into the perfect soldier, capable of holding her own against almost any opponent and killing them in over 174 ways. (Making them choke with marsmallows was one of her favorites.) And now, as she streched her limbs in front of Strix's apartment, she could feel it. She was ready for this.

As she started making her way to the exam site, some of the familiar faces in her neighborhood popped up. On the other side of the street, in front of a shop with an arrow sign hanging over the door, sat a young woman, only a bit older than her. Her wild orange hair and different-colored eyes gave her a bit of a crazy look, but Kinessa knew that she was mostly harmless. Well, atleast when her customers paid on time. She looked like she was carving a bow. Which, considering her profession, was not quite so unusual. "Hi, Fletch! What's up? Making another "Masterpiece"?", she called out. The woman named Fletch sighed. "I have told you a million times, bows are real weapons, not just toys for children to play with! ", she called back angrily. "Oh yeah, let's ask one of the "greatest" bowmakers to ever live about her opinion on them. Surely we'll get an unbiased opinion," she said with a mocking tone. "How do you even keep this place running? The only customer I have seen in a while was that redhead with the impossible braid and a bird," she continued. "She is the daughter of an old acquaintance of mine. But no, she's not the only one. You're probably just off getting ready for you "Big day." It's today, isn't it?" "Sure it is, neighbor," Kinessa said proudly. "You're invited to come and see my success." No thanks," Fletch said. "I'm pretty busy with all these orders. If you had ever bought something, then maybe I could reconsider." "Still trying?", Kinessa almost laughed. "You're my eternity project," Fletch replied back. "Well, sorry to tell you, but I'm only using real weapons. You know, guns, grenades, mines, that sort. Tell me when you have some in stock," Kinessa said and left, leaving Fletch looking a bit puzzled.

Some onlookers could get the idea that these two women hated eachother, but it was quite the opposite. They were good friends, growing up on the same street for most of their lives. Their squabble was just casual rivalry between them. Fletch had lived in the Capital her whole life. Her father was a renowned bowmaker who had died when she was eight, leaving her without a family. Instead of going to the orphanage, she had somehow convinced the officials to let her remain home and continue her father's business. Apparently, she had proved to be able to keep the business going as well as herself alive. Some also whispered that the inspectors had went to the healer with some nasty arrow marks all over their body, but the claim was largely speculated. Mostly because, as ironic as it is, Fletch was a terrible archer. Yes, a bowmaker who cannot shoot a bow. Laugh it off and leave the girl be. Even though she had admired bows her whole life, she was better at shooting guns. Quite the problem for someone working on the field, but that's irrelevant. She was happy, her customers were happy, and so everyone was happy. Case closed, back to business.

Kinessa made her way through the city towards the exam site, which was situated just outside the walls near the army's larger training grounds. Every year a small part of the area was fenced off for the test. This year it was the small forest near the edge of the area. The forest was quite thick and had only a few clearings, most of which were hills. She glanced at the sky. It was widely known that the exam was monitored from the air with little flyers, which the tech guy of the barrack called "drones." They were able to transmit everything they saw into the monitors in the observation booth so that the judges could see every bit of the action. And sure enough, there they were, checking all the angles to make sure everything would be captured.

Turning her gaze back to the ground level, she saw Strix, Viktor and Tyra already waiting by the fence. Strix spotted her and gestured her to come closer. "Finally decided to wake up, did you?", Viktor called to her as soon as she was within hearing distance. "Well, you know me, gotta give it my best today," she said back, smirking. "What's the deal this year? I'm guessing something a bit more exotic if I can say anything by the location." "You're right," Tyra said back. "I haven't seen this since I myself took the exam. Free-For-All. They must really want the pros this year."Kinessa looked a bit dazed, as if not believing her ears. "Free-For-All? Really?" "Seems like it," Strix said. "All the recruits go to the different parts of the forest with non-lethal stun guns. The last one standing is instantly accepted, the rest are judged by their performance." Kinessa nodded. "And who is the main judge?", she asked. The others looked at each other warily. "Max," Viktor finally said. Kinessa groaned. Why did it have to be her least favorite instructor? Max had never liked female recruits, believing that they didn't fit into the army. But he had only begun to really hate her when she had turned down his son, Luke. Luke had been one of the more stubborn ones, and had required some special treatment. (Namely two ribs and a crushed windpipe.) As far as she knew, Luke was also taking the exam. He wasn't that good, but his dad had made sure that his "Wonder-boy" was given the best chance possible to follow in his father's footsteps. In short, Luke was a spoled, whiny brat. This was gonna be a fun exam.

A while later, almost all of the recruits had gathered to the field. There were maybe 30, only the best this year. Kinessa knew them all by name, but that was pretty much it. After the Easthaven incident, she had avoided making new friends, especially ones in military. Only Luke shot her a murderous glance from across the field, to which she responded with a mockingly charming smile. His voice had been raspy ever since she crushed his windpipe, and she liked to remind him of it every time she got the chance, being a living embodiment to Luke of his worst chance ever of trying to hit on a girl. However, that glance was short-lived, as Max stepped onto the podium with three other judges. Everyone fell quiet as he began to speak. "All right. I suppose you already know what's going on today. Free-For-All with stun guns, CQC is allowed, last one standing is instantly accepted. The rest of you have to wait for our decision. Is everything clear?" Everyone nodded. "All right then, get your guns from the table and wait for your instructor to take you to your starting position. Let's get this show on the roll!"

* * *

Ten minutes later, Kinessa was making her way to the other end of the exam area. Luckily, Tyra had been assigned as her instructor, and was giving her last-minute advice. "When you're under fire, always seek cover first, only then seek out the shooter. The exam is so short that you don't need food, but fire can still draw some slower-minded recruits to you for easy kills. It's uncommon, but if you encounter a Daemon bear in the woods, remember that they are scared of ducks, so immediately make your best watefowl impression." As they approached her starting position, Kinessa was starting to show some signs of stress. Even though she had prepared for this exam for over a half of her life, there were so many things that could go wrong. Ambushes were her worst fear. She could get dropped out of the game early, and the judges would dismiss her as just one of the wannabe-military kids. Max would make sure of that. But before she even knew it, they had reached the starting location. It was a small ring on the ground, which had been engraved with her name, "Kinessa Darkstalker." The circle would turn green when the time began, and red if the recruit inside of it took a headstart, which meant immediate disqualification. Tyra led her to the ring, which turned yellow, registering that she was inside of it. There was no going back now. Tyra took her by the shoulders. "Well, good luck, kid. Remember to keep your cool and look awesome. It should get you some extra points." "Thanks," she replied, "But points won't be needed when I'm number one." Tyra gave her a supportive smile, before making her way back to the observation area.

The minutes grew longer as she waited for the ring to change color. She was sweating, partly because of nervousness and partly because of the summer heat. The gun felt heavy in her hand. It was a pistol, modified to fire rubber bullets which could knock out the target with a few hits, as well as leave some nasty bruises. The twenty-fire round magazine meant that precise shots were required. After checking her gun for the umpteenth time, the waiting continued. Until suddenly, it didn't.

As the ring turned green, Kinessa sprang to her feet. She could feel her heart beating as she made her way to the forest, determined to come out on top.

12 minutes later, she was starting to get a bit worried. It was not because of the instense action happening all around her. It was the lack of it. At this point, she should have atleast encountered some other recruits, or heard the sound of elimination bells. She was seriously starting to freak out by the lack of competitors. Tyra's warnings about Daemon bears briefly crossed her mind, but she quickly came to her senses. No bears had been detected in the area, or else the exam would have been postponed. No, something else was going on in here. Something sinister, and she didn't like it.

"Why, hello there, Kinny," came a raspy voice from somewhere in the woods. Kinessa immediately recognised it belonging to Luke as he walked out of the shadows. "Watch with the nicknames, dude. Don't you remember what happened the last time? Also, calling out to the person you were gonna ambush might not be the best idea. You should really reconsider your strategy," she called back. "Oh, but it's your real name, isn't it? Kinny Nessa Darkstalker? Don't you remember?", he said with an ominous tone. Her blood froze. He wasn't just making up nicknames. He was calling her directly. "Do not. Say. That. Name.", she growled back. Only this small reminder of her past made her mind reel back to Easthaven, to her last night there. She again felt like a scared little girl, and was fighting not to show it. Luke cackled. "Not really good at making up new names, are we? Kinny and Nessa to Kinessa? Get yourself some imagination." "We'll see who can imagine anything when I put one between your eyes. How do you even know about it? ", Kinessa asked him, voice brimming with anger. Luke seemed to be enjoying himself, savoring every moment of seeing Kinessa in her weakened state. "Oh, dad did a bit of research on your past for me. Quite tragic, actually. Also, you might want to point that thing elsewhere. This is still an ambush, after all, and dad got me some friends to make sure of that." Suddenly, all the other recruits popped from the woods, pointing their stunners at her. Kinessa tried to take in the fact that twenty-eight new hostiles had just surrounded her, apparently bribed by Max to ensure that his son got his revenge and victory. "You son of a bitch!", she shouted. "Is this your conception of a fair fight?" "Fair fights ended for you the moment you humiliated me," Luke said with terrifying calmness. He was a man who knew he had already won. Cold sweat was dripping down Kinessa's neck. She knew that her career was over even before it begun. Considering she would survive 29 rubber pellets hitting her body at once with high speeds. Luke was having the time of his life. "Well, well, well, looks like little Kinny here is losing her cool. How adorable!" Kinessa's gaze hardened. "Shut it," she whispered. But Luke wasn't going to end his moment of glory so soon. "She is falling down, just like her dumpster of a hometown. What was it? Easthaven? More like Worsthaven." he said and laughed at his own joke. "Shut it," Kinessa said a bit louder. "Oh no, is our little girl going to cry? Seems like it. I bet she cried quite a lot when she realized that everything she loved had ended!" Luke was really going at it now. Kinessa could not take much more, and he knew it. "SHUT IT, YOU DISGUSTING EXCUSE OF A HUMAN!", she screamed now, tears streaking her cheeks. Luke was laughing at the top of his lungs. "Look, guys, she's breaking down! Reminds me of someone else… oh yeah! I remember! It started with M… Mars, wasn't it? She's breaking like her precious Mars!

Years later, when someone asked Luke what he regretted the most in his life, his response was that exact moment. That moment would haunt his nightmares every single night. That moment was the beginning of a huge downhill that was the rest of his life.

That was the point when Kinessa Darkstalker finally snapped.

* * *

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

At that moment, Kinessa stopped feeling. But at the same time, she was feeling everything. It was as if some final wall in her life had been removed with Luke's last few words, and now nothing was holding her back. The air grew heavy with pressure that seemed to be emanating from her. All the other recruits felt it. But Luke was too caught up in his madness to notice all the "This may have been a bad idea"-faces his collaborators were giving him. Kinessa smirked, as her sanity momentarily left her. Her left eye was twitching with the ominous pressure which was welling up inside of her. She had never felt this much in control. She could see everyone and chuckled at how slow they were. Actually, they didn't seems to be moving at all. She lifted her weapon.

Luke finally took another look at Kinessa. What he saw shut his mouth instantly. There wasn't a woman standing in front of him. There was a predator, with eyes practically leaking murderous instinct and a dark aura flowing around her. He and everyone at the observation site looked in terrified awe as Kinessa span around with unnatural grace and speed, emptying her magazine at the other recruit's skulls. In under 4 seconds, they were all lying down in the ground, and Luke noticed that almost all of his backup had fallen, with only three others still standing beside him, quivering in fear. He stood frozen in place as this monster of a woman took a step towards him. The closer she got, the more pressure he felt coming off of her. When she was five steps away, the last of his companions fell unconcious from the murderous aura. Luke himself fell to his knees as she stepped right in front of him. "Please, it was just a joke," he pleaded. Kinessa looked at him with eyes so cold they could have turned magma into obsidian. A small gust of wind seemed to pass the pair. Then she turned away and began walking into the opposite direction.

Luke hadn't even noticed that he was holding his breath. He breathed out in relief, knowing that the danger had passed, and that he had somehow been spared. And at that moment he shattered. Literally.

When the scene was later viewed in super-slow motion, the examiners could see something which looked like Kinessa striking Luke repeatedly so quickly so many times that it was invisible to the naked eye. This motion was so fast that it took a few seconds for Luke's body to register the damage that had been done to it. Only then did his bones shatter. Later, when he was being examined, the healers noticed the true extent of the injuries. All of his ribs and and his collarbone had been broken. His shoulder had been crushed. A particularly powerful blow had torn his jaw to pieces and blown all of his teeth to smithereens. It was way worse than what had happened to James Cloudgaze. It was actually a miracle that he was still alive.

As Luke fell down, Kinessa's murderous aura finally faded and time seemed to start flowing normally again. This was different than when she had won the slingshot competition or beaten up James. This time she had fully controlled the event, and it didn't just seemed like fighting against nature. It was like she knew the full potential of this power, and how she could tap into it. But that still didn't explain WHAT it was. She stopped worrying about it as she made her way out of the forest. Suddenly, she noticed the shocked gazes that surrounded her. She hadn't remembered that the whole event had been filmed, and probably looked a bit strange. Well, "A bit strange" didn't quite capture the fact that nobody at the exam site had never seen anything like it before, and that said a lot considering all the experienced soldiers that had gathered there. Kinessa forced a weary smile to her face. "Well, did I pass?", she asked innocently. Max was the first one to regain his voice. "Do you really think so, you unholy girl? After what you have done to my son and the others? I'm telling you, this girl is a witch! Call the inquisition!" Max was screaming, looking as mad as his son moments before. That was cut short Strix fired a tranquilizer dart at him. He fell unconcious instantly, and the other judges pushed him off the table. Then they fell into a deep conversation. Kinessa stole a glance at Strix. For the first time since she had gotten to know him, he seemed honestly shaken. Still, he managed to nod at her encouragingly. The moment was cut short when the judges coughed to get everyone's attention. "Kinessa Darkstalker, we have thought about the situation. Usually, if the recruit shows unprecented abilities during the exam, they will be instantly disqualified. But, considering your unfair and potentially fatal situation, we have decided that you pass, if you accept to be thoroughly inspected afterwards. We do need to know exactly who we are hiring." Kinessa nodded, joy coating her face. "Then, as the winner and the only one who passed the exam this year, we disqualify everyone else for treacherous behaviour and announce Kinessa Darkstalker as the new soldier of the royal army! May you bring honor to the Kingdom in all of your fights, and live to serve the King!" Applause echoed through the area, as everyone gathered to celebrate the new soldier joining their ranks. Kinessa saw her mentors looking at her proudly, and knew that life would be well from now on. After the examination, she would get her gear, move into the barracks and get to go on missions. She also heard someone say that Max and Luke were going to be banished. At the moment, it was hard to worry about anything.

* * *

2 hours later

"Well, miss, it took some more advanced tests, but I have finally decoded your condition," said the specialist assigned to figure out her abilities. "Well, don't keep me waiting, doc. What is it?", she asked impatiently. "Well, when you really look into it, this "Slow-Mo Mode" as you described it is not magical. Rather, it's physiological. I don't suppose you've ever heard of innate abilities?" Kinessa shook her hear. "Well, innate abilities are certain "improvements" which sometimes are born in families with magical background. In your case, your brains have evolved to decrease your perception of time for a short period, thus granting you inhuman reflexes. This manifests as time slowing down for you. Also, while channelling this power, your strength seems to increase, as evidenced by they way you handled Luke. I think this has something to do with unlocking more of your potential, but I'm not sure. Innate abilities are rare and mysterious, so not much research has been done on them. Most families don't usually even want to reveal their innate abilities." Kinessa looked impressed. "So youre saying that I have super powers?", she asked. The doctor chuckled. "I was sure you were gonna say that. Well, it's not invincible. Using your brains in such an unnatural way puts huge strain on your body. You told me you first felt this at a slingshot competition? That might explain why you passed out afterwards. So I cannot recommend using it often or for long periods. What you did today was probably possible only because of the initial burst of energy which came from fully unlocking your ability." She looked a bit dissappointed, but nodded. "Ok doc. Thanks for the diagnosis. I gotta go now." "No problem, come visit me anytime. I'll ask my colleagues if they have any more information," he said while waving goodbye.

Kinessa made her way through the barracks. She would get settled down soon, but first she had to visit the quartermaster. As the winner she was allowed to design her gear herself. Also, because no one else passed, all of their budgets were at her disposal, too. She had already submitted some specific instructions, and couldn't wait to see the results. Finally she made her way to one of the bigger buildings, which housed the army's quartermaster, Samuel. Just as she was about to knock, the door flung over and knocked her to the ground. "Hi Sam," she said while spitting dust from her mouth. "What's the rush?" Samuel seemed pretty nervous, but that was his usual expression, so it didn't probably mean anything. "I was just looking for you," he said. We have a bit of a problem with your gear. The outfit is ready, but your gun is missing it's energy crystal. It seems like Max took them all before he was kicked out." Kinessa cursed. She should have expected some last hit against the face from him. It would probably take days before they tracked him down, and during that time she would be without a weapon. But suddenly she remembered something which could save the day. "Wait here, I may have a replacement," she said to Samuel before darting off.

10 minutes later she came back with the crystal she had found as kid and taken with her from Easthaven. She tossed it to Samuel. "Well this suffice?", she asked. Samuel looked ecstatic. "Where did you get this? It's perfect! I haven't seen such purity since my days in the private sector." Kinessa smiled, pleased with herself for having picked up the rock. "Let's just say that it's a memento. Will it fit?" "Oh course," Samuel assured. "Come inside, I'll show you the goods."

Inside, the house was packed to the brim with weapons, armor and weird tech. As they made their way to the workshop, Samuel once had to save Kinessa from an exploding robotic lawn gnome, which saw her as the enemy. Luckily, the workshop was a bit more peaceful. "And this one is for you," Samuel said proudly as he picked up a gun from the table. It was just as she had requested. Long, with a a metallic chassis for barrel, which meant optimal energy concentration and a solid buttstock in case anyone got too close. The scope was aligned perfectly, and the reload mechanism worked smoothly. And best of all, it was her favorite color, orange. "Thanks Sam, it's exactly as I wanted it." Sam laughed. "Oh no, it's much more. 5 shots, charge mechanism for more powerful beams, and perfect heat dispersion for maintained use. But your design left a lot of room for improvement, so I did a little extra." Suddenly, he pressed the button next to the trigger. To Kinessa's amazement, the barrel retracted and the scope moved to the side. "In case the foes get close and personal, I installed a secondary, full-auto carbine mod. Close-range only, the accuracy hasn't been consistent, but it's good enough." She couldn't have been happier. "Thanks, Sam. I mean it," she said after forcing herself to look away from the weapon. "Oh, don't thank me, it's my job. I tailored a holster for it. Hope your back is okay, because you will be hauling this baby around for a while. Also, your outfit is in the dressing room. Just go through that door and to the left. And come back as soon as you put it on, I wanna see if it fits."

A little while later, Kinessa stepped back to the workshop, dressed in her new clothes. Long, metal-reinforced combat boots rose all the way to her brown, baggy pants which had a black belt with a skull symbol as the buckle. Some harnesses coiled around her legs, holding the bottom part of her gun's holster and a utility pouch on her hip. Her hands were encased in long, metal-plates gloves. Her midriff was exposed, but she had a breastplate made from hardened leather, which fit the shape of her chest perfectly. Lastly, she wore a large, orange scarf, which could be used as a hood or a bandana. Samuel spotted her. "Well well, aren't you the perfect soldier now. I made some final adjustments, she should be good to go. Good luck," he said as he handed her the weapon. "Thanks again, Sam. See you around!", she said. "Of course. If you want to add something to your arsenal, just come visit me!", Samuel shouted back to her as she disappeared through the door.

Now fully geared up, Kinessa felt a sense of direction. Tonight, she would sleep at the barracks for the first time. Then it was just a matter of waiting for her first mission. She heard a group of people coming from behind the corner. Strix, Tyra and Viktor appeared and seemed to hesitate a bit after seeing her, as if not believing their eyes. "Kinessa? Is that really you?", Viktor asked. She smiled at him. "In flesh. Do you like the new gear?" Tyra nodded. "Sure, it looks good. Now come. We have to talk a bit about the future. Did you get any clarification on what was that what you did at the exam?" Kinessa looked at her. "Sure I did. And the future? I think it's looking pretty good right now."

She smiled as she made her way through the barracks with her mentors, and for the the first time, she felt like she really belonged with them.


	6. Chapter 6: The Intermission

The Girl From The Middle Of Somewhere

Part 6

The Intermission

"So basically you can slow down time with your mind? Gotta admit, that's a neat trick." Tyra's interested voice was heard all around the table in the restaurant they had gathered to celebrate. Despite the festivities, Kinessa looked a bit uneasy talking about her newly discovered skills.

"It's not that simple. I'm not really familiar with it yet, but yeah, that's the nutshell," she responded. Tyra seemed impressed nonetheless.

"So, its duration is limited by your endurance, but it slows down your sense of time to a crawl and lets you do some things that even I admit are pretty badass. Cool. So what if I do this?", she asked and to everyone's dismay, grabbed a steak knife from a nearby table and proceeded to throw it towards Kinessa. She barely even had time to comprehend the absurdity of the situation. One of her mentors flinging a knife towards her? That just didn't fit in her mindscape. Luckily, Kinessa's instincts were always ready. Without even trying, she felt the time slow down all around her, the shocked features of Strix, Viktor and other patrons frozen to their faces, with only Tyra sporting a curious look. The knife itself had been spinning in the air towards her, but its movements slowed down, until its advancement towards her face were hardly noticeable. The knife's movements in the slow-mo state would have been almost hypnotic, if not for the fact that it was slowly but surely making its way towards her. With a shaking hand, she grasped the knife by the handle, and calmly put it down as time started to flow normally again. Only then did she start shouting. "What in the Abyss were you thinking! I could have died!" Tyra only chuckled, as if risking the life of her pupil was a thing she did daily. Well, actually it was, but that's beside the point. "Oh, don't be such a drama queen, 'Nessa. If had full faith in your abilities. I just wanted to test it out. The way you just took it from mid-flight in the blink of an eye? Worth it." Kinessa herself wasn't convinced. "And HOW exactly did you know that I could react in the blink of an eye, even when I didn't even know it myself and couldn't even realize what you were doing at the time?"

Akward silence fell over the table as Tyra opened her mouth, the gulped and slowly closed it and fell back further into her chair.

"Well, I think that you just exceeded your daily murder attempt quota." Viktor told her. "Have you all decided what you want to eat?" "Well, I think I'll have a steak after all the trouble today. And maybe some cat on the side, because it appears they have some at the moment," Kinessa said and grabbed a pink-haired girl sneaking past the tables from the hair. "OWCH! Zat hurt!" the girl in question yelled. Kinessa dragged her for everyone to see. She was quite a sight. She was very young, maybe a bit under 15, and she had a slim frame. Most of her body was hidden under a long jacket, which upon closer examination housed multiple knives in holsters and secret compartments. She had skintight pants and long boots. Her most striking features were her messy, bright-pink hair and catlike eyes. She certainly stood out from the other children on the streets she had grown up in. "Well, hello, Maeve," Kinessa said with a tone so menacing it might as well have belonged to a serial killer. "What brings you here except for my wallet?" Maeve looked around, trying to find a way out, but her captr's iron grip didn't yield. "Well, you know me, I just cannot rezist a pouch like that when you have flaunt it all over the room," she said at last. Just then did the others notice Kinessa's utility pouch had relocated to the girl's hand, without any of them noticing despite her striking appearance. They watched as Maeve, sighing in defeat , handed it back to its owner. Only then did Kinessa release her. "You know, I could arrest you for that," Kinessa told her with a smirk. "I'm now a part of the army." "Well, actually you're not just yet. You still need to complete specialized training. Only then you will get your lisence," Viktor corrected her. "Details!" Kinessa snorted. "The thing is, in theory, I COULd arrest her, but it would be done on your permission, and when we get back…" Kinessa's voice faded away as she noticed Maeve grabbing one of her daggers. She tried to snatch it, but the pickpocket just smirked. "Goodnight…" she said melodiously while spinning the knife. Suddenly, everyone in the proximity lost their eyesight almost completely. And of course everyone panicked at the sudden blindness. Everyone except Kinessa, who was already used to it, but even she could help the momentary confusion. In that instant, she felt her grip loosen as Maeve pried herself free. Receding footsteps gave away the fact that the delinquent had ran away. Accepting defeat, she sighed heavily as everyone's eyesight began to return. Tyra was the first one to recover. "What in the gods's name was that?" She asked with a hint of panic seeping into her voice. "Oh, that? Just a detour from one of her trips," Kinessa answered. "She told me she swiped that cool-looking coat from one of Magistrate's barracks. Turns out it was enchanted, and since then she has been able to inflict temporary blindness to those around her. Quite troublesome when you're trying to have a conversation and then cops walk past. She panics easily." "So you've met her a few times already? Why havent you arrested her? That coat belongs to the Magistrate!" Viktor was furious, but Kinessa held her ground. "Oh, please. It's nothing. She usually only steals from some snobs with too much money, she's really no problem. Remember that white-haired noble chick who just arrived this morning with that scary-looking guy? She stole one of her crystal hairpins. Now she gloats of how she has broken the record for most wanted posters in one city." Silence fell upon the table once more, with others trying to take in the new information and Kinessa waving at the waiter to come take their orders.

* * *

1,5 hours later

"So, what now?" Kinessa asked enthusiasticly as the group was making their way out of the restaurant. The others had been surprisingly silent the whole evening after Maeve escaped. Only Strix mumbled something, which when ran throught Strix-Kinessa-Strix translator meant roughly: "We sleep. You get your stuff out of my house. You go to barracks." Kinessa smirked. "Talkative as always. Got it, see you tomorrow." She darted off, impatient to pick her bunk. The others looked as she went ahead. "Should we tell her that Maeve tied one of her scrunchies to her hair?" Tyra asked groggily. ""No. Let's wait until she figures it out. The sight will be worth it," Viktor replied.

A few moments later an extremely loud "MAEVE!"-shout could be heard from a distance. Viktor, Strix and Tyra looked around and spotted Maeve, whose face had drained of color, on a nearby roof. In the blink of an eye, she was gone. "Well, this is going to be a long night," Tyra stated.

* * *

9 hours later

Kinessa met the others at noon. Her eyes were bloodshot, indicating she had barely gotten sleep. Her murderous face seemed to repel anyone trying to congratulate her as she made her way to her team. "So, how did it go?" Tyra asked. "That blasted half-tigron made me run around the city thrice before I cornered her. And then some stray cats tried to claw my eyes out as I approached, allowing her to run away again. At that point, I just didn't care anymore. How's the situation?" Just as she asked, something in Viktor's pocket beeped. He picked it up and Kinessa noticed it was a crystal-powered communication disc, developed just a few weeks ago. "Where'd you get that? I heard they're super rare," she asked. Viktor smirked. "The army gets all the latest toys. You'll get to test out the new intercom in a few hours." Excitement creeped through her. "So you mean…" "Yep, your first mission is here. Grab your camo suit, we're going hunting tonight."

* * *

Hi, author himself here. I don't usually talk myself in this story, but I think it's time for a little update about the state of the fic. This chapter and Part 8 (Now Ch 7) have been in the making for a few months now, but they were both stuck. This was originally going to be a full chapter, but I decided not to torture myself anymore by writing two chapters at once, so this just became a short filler instead. I'm going to get back to chapter 7 now. I'm going to complete this story, so don't give up on me just yet. It might just take a while. Peace!


	7. Chapter 7: The Oppressor

The Girl From The Middle Of Somewhere

Part 7

Quest: The Oppressor

 **So yeah, this is the first Quest chapter. These are fillers, so skipping Quests is ok if you just care about the overall story. In Quests, I just explain where did Kinessa got her gadgets. Enjoy.**

"Hostile One is on the move. Approaching line of sight."

"Wind?"

"East, 3 MpH."

"I've got the hostile. Permission to fire?"

"Permission granted. Execute."

A stifled gunshot was heard coming from the woods, but no one at the camp seemed to notice it in the dead of the night. Nobody noticed a man fall down, dead, and not a single soul saw a shadowy figure drag the body out of their sight.

"Perfect shot, S. T, did you get him?"

"I did. He won't be found until morning. Just waiting for confirmation from our rear guard. K, what's the situation down there?"

"I'm spotting five hostiles, one with high explosives. He's coming your way."

"Got it, hold on a sec."

The sound of suppressed gunfire could be heard through the intercom. Other team members were holding their breath, waiting for confimation. Finally, it came.

"Hostile is down. Gotta stash him somewhere safe, these nades look like they could really do some work."

"Yeah, I suppose it would be a minor setback to have our boots on the ground get blown up because she couldn't handle a guy with such an exlosive personality. Nice one, T."

"Thanks, V. How do we go from here?"

"According to the plan. You and K will meet up at the courtyard, while S and myself will provide overwatch. Start advancing to position Bravo.

"Copy."

"Copy."

* * *

11 hours earlier

Barely a day had passed after Kinessa moved in, when her first mission as a team member came in. And as usual, it was something not suitable for any normal just-graduated cadet. According to the intel, a small town near the southern border had been taken over by a warlord, who was now controlling the entire region. All other infiltration mission had been unsuccesful, as the warlord's men executed a civilian every time they even thought of the army. So, the higher-ups had decided to send in a special team to lay the groundwork for much bigger strike. And that just so happened to be Viktor's team. So, without any further questions, Strix attached a suppressor to his sniper and Tyra grabbed her custom-made stealth rifle, which she had dubbed "Stinger". The journey took less than a day, as the team arrived at the hill overlooking the village just as the sun was starting to set. Strix and Viktor set up a scouting spot at a nearby cliff, while Kinessa and Tyra donned their camo gear. The plan was for the women to insert quitly and map out the area and enemy combatants, as well as sabotage any key locations of their defence while Strix and Viktor kept watch. Which brings us to the present.

* * *

Kinessa was sweating hard. Not because the situation was stressful. When she was 12, Strix heard her sneaking to the cookie jar in the middle of night. Instead of just dragging her back to bed, he called Viktor and Tyra for backup. Then they set up patrol routes around the house and tried to catch Kinessa for about 4 hours as a surprise test until she finally made it back to bed unnoticed. After hiding in a closet for 40 minutes, waiting for unusually murderous-looking Strix to pass, no stealth mission could get on her nerves. No, the real reason was because three enemies had suddenly walked just in front of her. Somehow they had managed to avoid their surveillance grid, and had decided to stay and chat just on the other side of the dumpster, behind of which Kinessa had ducked as she noticed them approaching. A minor setback, but it could cost them valuable time if she wouldn't figure out a way to sneak past them soon. She tapped her ear to activate the intercom. "Do you read me? Three hostiles are blocking my way, got anything for them?" She thought she heard Viktor cursing from the other side. "Can't you use your little trick on them?" he asked. "Negative. I don' think I could take them all out, and even if I did, I would probably be too tired to go on," she replied. A momentary silence followed, but lying there waiting it felt like forever. Just as she was starting to think that the comms had broken up, she heard from the other side: "Take out the guy nearest to you when you hear the signal." "Copy."

And then she waited some more. Minutes felt like days, until finally she could make out the form of approaching Tyra. She was concealed in darkness, but still visible if focused on. She took aim and started to wait for the same signal as she did. A few seconds later it happened. Viktor whispered "Execute" through the intercom. After that, three things happened at the same time. First, a sniper bullet came from behind her. Strix had changed positions so that he could have a clear shot on the guards. It hit the man in the middle right through the skull, and he fell down. Even before his allies had registered the hit, the Stinger fired a short round which took down the second one. When the last guy figured out, it was already too late. Kinessa rose from her hiding spot and struck fast as a snake. Her skills in close quarters combat had been witnessed before, but even Viktor felt a bit of pride when he saw the A+ performance of his student. Kinessa opened up with a kick to the diaphragm, followed with a quick punch to the throat. As the man fell down, gasping for breath, she swiftly unslung her rifle and used the buttstcok to deliver a finishing blow so powerful it broke the back of his neck in one hit. After all the adversaries had stopped twitching, Kinessa and Tyra put them into the dumpster. Kinessa nodded to Tyra, before calling Viktor once more. "Thanks for the help, guys. Shifting to position Bravo now."

"Copy. We'll cover your approach," came the asnwer, as the two women once more stuck to the shadows and started to make their way to the center of the town.

* * *

Position Bravo was pretty much in the middle of a marketplace. a large fountain provided them with cover from which they could observe the area. And it did not look good. Armed thugs were everywhere, their numbers exceeding fifty. The villagers were mostly in their homes at this time of the night, but the few residents they saw looked defeated and hopeless. Some of them had been beaten up quite badly.

"By the gods," Tyra gasped. "What have they done to this place?"

"According to the intel, they came only a week ago, instantly taking control of the local law enforcement and then the whole area. The villagers have since been forced to work at the nearby crystal mines with minimal supplies, and unstable crystalline ore explosions have killed atleast three of them. The rest is refined and used to power their weapons. I have also heard that they are researching new tech," answered Viktor. Kinessa shuddered. The idea of these guys holding crystal-powered weapons was not a fun one, especially when she had seen a couple night patrols dropping their guns out of sheer clumsiness.

"So what's our objective from here?" she asked.

"Your job is to check out their three main buildings: Their HQ, the town hall, their research facility, the library, and the upper-class residence zones which have been converted to barracks. Anything significant you see, report. And if you can do some inconspicuous sabotage to help when the real assault comes, go wild," Viktor responded.

"Copy."

"Copy, moving."

* * *

A few minutes later, Kinessa was making her way to the library. They had decided to split up, because Tyra was sure she could poison their water supply. So while Tyra went to the barracks, Kinessa herself had decided to check out their research lab. As dangerous as they would be in the wrong hands, she was curious to see if these goons had made any significant discoveries. Crystal magic was still quite new, so it was not impossible to stumble upon something unheard of with little experimentation. The roads were littered with guards, but she made managed to make it to the destination by utilizing rooftops, a couple of sneaky shortcuts and one convenient cardboard box.

The library was pretty unremarkable, especially when considering the Magistrate's Archives at home in the Capital. But still, those crude wooden walls were known to hold some important pieces of infomation, and some researchers came to visit the village for weeks at a time just to get their hands on some rare books. Also, the cellar was quite roomy, big enough to conduct dangerous experiments in. Not hard to guess where their lab would be. But the only problem was getting in. The front door was heavily guarded. A quick scan of her surroundings, however, revealed that someone had left a top window open. It was only a quick climb, and nobody would notice her from the shadows of the building. Kinessa felt almost dirty for using such a cliché entrance, but that guilt was quickly foreshadowed by the fact that beneath her were dozens of mercenaries eager to gut her if she fell. She thought about it for a seconds, then continued climbing.

A few minutes later, she had made her way through the window and down to the bottom floor. The inside was pretty lightly guarded, but she did have to knock out one guy who almost spotted her outside the window. The cellar door was now right in front of her, an inviting silver doorknob almost shining in the dim lighting. "Let's take a peek," she thought to herself and pushed the door open. As soon as she did, strange noises echoed in the stairwell. She listened. It sounded a bit like….. buzzing? Kinessa wasn't sure, so she carefully began to make her way downwards. The noise grew only stronger, and as she got closer, pained grunts started to join in. Finally, she reached to bottom, and peeked quickly past the corner. The sight took her breath away.

She had seen a lot of strange devices before, but this one was in a class of its own. Behind a couple of guys dressed in white was a high-tech cannon-like thing with a large crystal glass covering the barrel. What was more alarming, however, was that the thing was pointed at a group of frightened civilians in the corner. Before she could do anything, one of the men flipped a switch. Instantly a beam of some sort shot out of the cannon and hit the civilians. Kinessa was just about to run out to help them when she noticed something: apart from mild discomfort, the beam didn't seem to hurt them. Then, to her dismay, the men threw swords in front of the captives. They looked surprised for a second, but eventually they grabbed the weapons and ran towards their captors, overpowered them, freed everyone capable of fighting and started a revolution which liberated the village of the opposing forces in just a couple of hours. Kinessa and her team were congratulated for their effort, and then everyone went on with their normal lives. Well, it might have happened, but as the vllagers started to make their way to the men in white, they found they were unable to. No matter how hard they tried, the beam stopped their movement on the spot. Harder and harder they pushed, until eventually the testers got bored and shut the beam, causing every civilian stuck in the beam to fall flat on the ground. The captors laughed as they took the swords away and led their prisoners through a door which Kinessa suspected lead to some kind of a holding cell. The event left her stunned, until she realized everyone had left. Quickly, she made her way throught the room and inspected the machine. It was a mix of high-tech and shoddy handiwork, probably only a prototype. She shuddered, thinking of how many test subjects they had went through before getting it to work. Well, no time to think about it now. Deciding that it was time to report, she moved back into hiding before calling Viktor.

"Hey, V, do you copy?" she asked.

"Loud and clear, K. What's the matter?"

"Well, a lot of things, but at the moment I'm concerned about this suppression cannon they are testing on civilians. Apparently it stops anyone on their tracks without causing any major damage. I suppose they're planning on using it to keep the workers in line at the mines."

A slight pause ensued when Viktor processed what he had just heard with Strix. Eventually, the answer came.

"All right, good thing that you found it. Now get out of there and meet T at position Delta, we need to think about the situation."

"Copy that, K moving."

But at the same time, universe seemed to decide that it was time for something to go wrong on a seemingly perfect mission. In this case, that was a simple, little mistake. Before any infiltration, one should identify every possible hazard on the way to their objective. Kinessa had knocked out one guard when coming in, but guard patrols usually travel in pairs, and these mercenaries were no exception. As soon as the pair of the downed guard saw his partner stashed away in the dark, he started to look out for the intruder. He spotted the slightly opened door to the basement and caught a sight of Kinessa sneaking away from the cannon as he entered. Careful to avoid making sound, he snuk towards her as she was distracted making the call. As soon as the call ended, he struck.

Every guard on patrol was equipped with a factory-made Crys-Tech MK II Electro-baton. They were cheap and unreliable, but they usually had enought charge to take out a couple of fully-trained soldiers trained to be resistant to slight electric attacks. They were banned after a couple of incidents where the victim's eyeballs had exploded, but illegal mercenary groups had somehow managed to steal every baton sent to be dissassembled and spread them around the Realm. Now they were a common sight anywhere where bandits and mercenaries had taken hold, and many special-ops members had fallen to them when forced into melee. Kinessa didn't even have time to turn around, when an unimaginable shock coursed through her, paralyzing her muscles and sending her brains into chaos. The shock seemed to last forever, her sense of pain starting to dull. Then, suddenly, it ended, and she fell, falling happily into unconsiousness even before she hit the floor. The guard stared at the lifeless body of the young woman on the floor. This one was going to get him a raise for sure.

* * *

Once, when she was 6, little Kinny fell down from a tree and broke her ankle. She had shouted like crazy all the way to the healer. After her ankle was fixed, Mars had told her: "Kinny, I know that you were in pain, but that is no way to announce it. Everyone thought you were seriously hurt. You better not behave so again." And now, years later, she still remembered his stern face and despite the worst pain she had ever felt, she kept quiet. Instead, she tried moving, but found out she couldn't. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

"Well, hello there, beutiful."

Her eyes snapped instantly open, as she took in her surroundings. She was chained to a chair, with both her hands and legs tied together. She was in a well-lit room, with beautiful, wooden furniture. She guessed, if she hadn't been moved out of town, that she was in one of the town hall offices. And in front of her stood a man. And what kind of man. His wild, unkempt hair and bulbous eyes were enough to give him a crazed look even without all the burns covering his face and a grenade launched strapped to his back. His other ear had been sliced off, and she could see that his burns and scars went all the way down to his hands. He had tried to cover up his worst features with makeup, but failed miserably. He was wearing an expensive suit, probably taken from one of the wealthier townspeople, but it didn't fit well and made him look even more horrendous. And the worst part? He was looking at her, eyes full of poorly-contained lust. It wasn't hard to guess the situation.

"Well, hello there, mister Weirdo. I'm guessing you're the leader of this boy band around here? I've seen their work. The lights are good, but the bassist could use some work. You're not gonna get good vibes with those things down in the basement," she shot back with a laid-back attitude. She wanted to test her adversary, to see how he would react. The man looked offended.

"Are you mocking me? Me, The Great Alzwel? The leader of these fearless warriors?"

"Oh, did I? I just thought you could use some contructive critisism. And maybe a few plastic surgeries. You know, for a guy called All's Well, you don't look so good. You know, I know a good healer who could improve your features, maybe start with your head, replace that for a Sewer Crawler Worm's. It would sure be an improvement. But I have bad news: The only thing capable of saving that outfit is a full-body invisibility spell. Actually, maybe we should start with that, no need to work on your face. And as for your name…"

"Enough!" he snapped. Kinessa smirked. If this guy was this easy, she would be out of here in no time. But he clearly wasn't done talking yet. "Your jokes amuse me, soldier girl. But what I'm wondering is: How did you get into my secret testing facilities?"

"Oh, it was quite simple, really," she answered. "I just helped the guards tie their shoelaces. They were so amazed by my intellect that they begged for me to come and help with their waffle iron. They can't seem to place the crystal right way up."

Alzwel looked at her murderously for a second but then he switched back to the needy look which made her more uncomfortable than anything else. She tugged at her bonds, but they didn't budge. He didn't seem to notice as he started pacing around the room and continued.

"When my men told me they had caught a southern soldier from the Kingdom's Army, I thought they had gone insane. Even more so when they told me that the soldier in question was a woman. but when they brought you to me, oh, how could I have been so blind? At the moment I saw you, I knew it. This was all meant to happen to me! This is my future, YOU are my future…"

Kinessa was starting to show slight signs of panic. "Ok, let's slow down, You might want to reconsider you next words, because if I like them, I might save you a few bones to move your limbs with…" she tried to cut in, but the man didn't listen her anymore.

"Just look at you! How else could such a tough sweet thing land to my kingdom if not by the will of the gods? Your beautiful, tan skin, your short, soft hair, your silky smooth but tough muscles, your fierce attitude, your soft round, supple…" he was saying, but just then Kinessa struggled so hard that the chair fell down and she managed to headbutt him.

"Ok, that's it, weirdo!" she shouted from the floor. "You just lost your living rights! Do you know what I did to the last guy who tried the same thing? I suggest you cut me loose now and I'll show you quickly, so we can all get out of here faster." The man chuckled at the struggling woman on the floor.

"Playing hard to get, eh? I like that. I will need a strong, beautiful woman such as you to rule by my side, as my queen! After my weapons project is completed, everyone will know the Great Alzwel, the owner of the Realm's most advanced arsenal, and his fair but lethal wife, capable of killing everyone his husband wants dead! I will rule in the brightest light of the gods, while you, my talented sniper-ette, will fight from the shadows to deliver swift and subtle fear to my enemies. The southeners were always known for their fighting skills, and you will reawaken that side of your culture. I saw your work on my men, and it's clear: You were brought here today to start the expansion of my great empire!"

Kinessa was speechless. Out of ALL the possible maniacal power-hungry warlords in the world, she had to be stuck with THIS one? Her worst wooer up to date? She was really starting to hope that someone had noticed her being dragged here. Strix and Viktor were supposed to be watching the courtyard, so they must know where she was. Tyra was probably already setting breach charges on the door. Right? Right?

"You will be my spear, my sharpest weapon. Who knows what secrets you hide? I have a specialist here who's talented at uncovering hidden skills. Maybe you are more powerful than even you know?" he speculated. Kinessa's panic only grew. Considering the surprising technical advances she had seen, it wouldn't take long for them to notice her innate ability. And then what? Maybe they could weaponize it somehow? Transfer to their soldiers? Or just somehow make her follow their orders? The outcome would be bad, whatever it was.

"Well, that can wait for after the wedding. I have already picked out a dress for you. Oh, how beautiful you will look in it!" he speculated.

Before she had the chance to object, two goons came out of the door, confirming that Tyra wasn't indeed about to breach & clear the room. They grabbed her from the floor and started to drag her to the hallway.

"You will all die! I'm gonna rip your limbs off with my bare hands and feed them to you with a pitchfork! I will…" her shouts died out as she was dragged down into the hallway, but her captors got to experience the full scope of her colorful vocabulary. Alzwel smiled to himself. "Oh, my fiery flower, we will be the perfect couple. And you will be a perfect addition to my invincible arsenal!" he smiled even more as he heard the distant cries of his soon-to-be wife, who seemed to be screaming select comments about their mothers and something involving dragon vomit and reinforced bathtubs.

Red flames of rage were burning in Kinessa's eyes as she was dragged to one of the fancier buildings. The mercenaries had finally gotten tired of her verbal assault and shoved a gag in her mouth, so now all she could pretty much do was mumble and look menacing. Which didn't seem to affect her adversaries, considering the amount of catcalls she was getting from other patrols. The sun was rising, and its first rays illuminated the unfortunate village. She couldn't help but wonder what the villagers had been through under the oppressor's rule, and where her squadmates were. They must have already noticed that she wasn't answering her intercom, since it had been confiscated along with her gun. They were probably scouting the streets now and would spot her any second. She just hoped it would be before the ceremony.

The house she was taken to looked like it belonged to some rich noblewoman, atleast if you looked at the size of the wardrobe. All manners of dresses, skirts, heels, hats and sort had been neatly sorted on the shelves. The guards cut her bonds and quickly threw her inside before she could claw their eyes out. They shouted to her from the outside:

"Boss wants you to be ready in 40 minutes! Your outfit is in the back. And don't try anything funny, the room is reinforced."

Then they left.

"What kind of idiot reinforces their wardrobe?" she thought to herself. Just to be sure, she tried to break down the door and the windows and even tried out one of the chairs against the wall. No damage.

"Well, considering the situation, I could as well get dressed. Maybe an opportunity will arise later," she told herself and went to look for the dress provided to her. It wasn't hard to find, as it had been put clearly on display in front of the window. It was long and straight red qipao, with flame patterns. She sighed. She wasn't a fan of dresses to begin with, and being forced into one was just plain cruel. Well, atleast it wasn't some ultra-girly white with barely any room to move in, she thought as she started to undress. Her uniform and camo suit didn't fit under the dress and All's Well-guy wouldn't probably take it kindly if she tried, so with gritted teeth she gave up the protection of her breatplate and slipped the garment on. Surprisingly, it was a perfect fit. Shivering at the thought, she decided not to think of what had been done to her when she was out cold, and blame the perfect measurements on sheer luck and guesswork.

* * *

Ten minutes later, she was all ready to go. She had stashed her clothes to a safe place to quickly grab them from when she escaped (She refused to think of the possiblity of failing) and after 25 more minutes of trying toget out of the room, she surrendered to waiting. Soon enough, there was a knock on the door, and she heard the familiar voices of the guards that had escorted her.

"Get against the opposite wall. We won't open up before we hear you're there." She couldn't help but smile. Apparently, she had made quite an impression. She walked to her designated place, ready to strike. As soon as the men got close to her to tie her up, she would use her innate ability to incapacitate them and get out of there, fast. However, her plan was ruined when they kicked down the door and shot at her without even looking. The projectile flew through the air, emitting a blinding light as it went. Uncapable of seeing, she couldn't focus enough to slow down time. In the blink of an eye the men had captured her and were walking her out of the door. Cursing their surprise attack, she couldn't help but walk towards her impending doom, as she would be forced to be some crazy warlord's wife/personal hitwoman. The thought alone made her shiver. Married life wasn't for her, much less one that grim, but she was powerless to stop the men escorting her. As they turned the corner, she was surprised to see that an altar with dozens of benches in front of it had been put up in the middle of the town square. Many elite guards had gathered there, along with some frightened villagers who were being held at gunpoint. Alzwel was there already, dressed in a black tuxedo, locked in deep discussion with a man she assumed was the priest. His misshapen eyes light up as he saw her approaching, and he practically skipped down the stairs to greet her.

"Oh, my love," he said, "How beautiful you look!"

"We can discuss that "love"-part more after I've pulled out your heart and dissected it. Then we'll surely see if that's the case," she struck back with cold fury. Alzwell just smiled.

"Oh, you are getting me even more excited with your fiery temper. I can't wait until this is all over so we can begin our honeymoon!" He didn't seem to noice the steel mask which had become of Kinessa's face after she heard the last few words. "However," he continued, "I must attend the priest about the details. You make yorself comfortable while I set things right. You don't need to worry your little head, honey! I'll be right back!" He walked off as Kinessa was put to sit on a throne-like chair, with almost an identical one right next to it. Alzwel's ego didn't seem to have bounds.

Minutes dragged on, as the "guests" started to gather and sit on the benches. Most guards were still wearing their gear, but some were sporting same kinds of tuxedos as Alzwel. The civilians were still wearing their dirty and sometimes ragged casual clothes, indicating they weren't allowed to wash or change them. Kinessa was starting to sweat, her eyes bouncing everywhere, looking for an opening to escape, but there were none. Guards were everywhere, and her bonds probably wouldn't be taken off before they trusted her, and that would take weeks, maybe months, and she wasn't planning on being here for that long. With nothing else to do, she waited and hoped that her friends would bust her out at the last second, preferably with a full strike team and several armed zeppelins playing the national anthem of the Kingdom and sporting the flags of the Magistrate. It would a pretty cool rescue operation. Or maybe they would tame the wild boars roaming the woods surrounding the village and make them stampede over the mercenaries. So lost in her fantasies, she didn't notice the ruckus around her cease to exist, as the wedding music she had feared of started playing. Her throne, along with her, was lifted and carried to the middle of the altar before she could object. Facing straight ahead, she saw Alzwel appear with his bestman and several armed guards. As he approached, the guards dropped off one by one to frame the red mat leading to the altar. Suddenly, the priest she had seen earlier appeared, smiling at her nervously. He was probably grabbed from a local church to perform the ceremony, with his reward being keeping his life. Alzwel and his bestman, whose hair was so long it almost completely concealed his face, approached, with Alzwel beaming with joy and his friend seeming rather gloomy. All the eyes were locked on the pair rising up the stairs towards the woman seated there. As they approached, Kinessa felt the familiar poke of a gun on her back, telling her to stand up. Reluctantly, she rose, looking at her husband-to-be with disgust. As they all had stopped moving, the music paused. The priest started to spoke.

"My friends, we have gathered here today to witness the beginning of a beutiful and powerful union of our beloved leader, Alzwel, and a Fiery Flower from the Southern Parts of the Realm…"

He went on, as Kinessa looked at Alzwel with a look that said "Are you seriously going to marry someone whose name you don't even know?"

"…No challenge too hard, no canyon too deep for them to cross with the power of their love…"

Kinessa had a funny feeling that Alzwel was behind most of the dialogue. At least she hadn't heard this version before.

"…The Great Alzwel traveled many lands, before finding his beloved, the sure shot fired from his rifle…"

She was seriously starting to sweat now, with ceremony nearing its end and no rescue in sight. Every fiber of her being wanted to get out, but sadly, teleportation wasn't in her repertoire.

"...And so, with the rights bestowed to me by all the True Gods and Goddesses of the Realm, from Azharm to Nyx, I shall connect these two souls. The rings."

With these words, Alzwel's bestman moved towards them, holding a velvet pillow with two rings on top of it. Both were made of gold or maybe enchanted gold, and were adorned with perfectly cut blue crystals. He gave the other one to Alzwel, who eagerly grabbed it, and directed Kinessa to take her own. But as she reluctantly reched her hand, the man didn't give it. The crowd murmured shortly, and Alzwel looked confused.

"What are you doing? Give it here, so we can get on with this!" he told him.

The man looked at the ring for a momnet, and then, to everyone's dismay, threw it away as hard as he could. Then he faced the stunned Alzwel. Slowly connecting his eyes, he growled with a voice that was far too familiar to Kinessa:

"This girl marries whoever she wants and whenever she wants, and I happen to know that she won't need a man in her life."

And then, before Alzwel could react, the man threw back his fist and punched him in the jaw with a blow so powerful it knocked him off the altar. The crowd stared at them for about three seconds. Then all Abyss broke loose.

* * *

Civilians were screaming as guards drew their weapons, but they didn't have time to take aim before a sniper shot flew above their heads and hit one guy in the middle of the group, killing him instantly. Then, Tyra popped up from somewhere and started to pick off the guards from the backlines. Viktor threw off his wig and grabbed Kinessa as they ducked to cover behind some fallen benches. He signaled Tyra, who threw him his assault rifle over the mercenaries's head, which he grabbed and opened fire upon the dazed hostiles.

"What took you so long?" Kinessa asked.

"Had to come up with a plan, get the disguises, take out the real bestman, that stuff. Besides, Tyra couldn't resist the chance to see you in a dress. She's probably taken pictures." he answered.

"Remind me to kill her later. They have my gear stashed somewhere, and I left my clothes at the house."

"Don't worry," Viktor assured. "T picked up your things on the way here. We just have to get through these guys first."

She nodded. Slowly, they started to crawl their way to Tyra, who had attached a drum magazine to her gun and was now raining death to every enemy who came close. Once one guy tried to grab Kinessa from behind, but she flanked him and broke his neck with one swift movement. Viktor took shots on any guard who come close, until eventually they reached Tyra's improvised cover, two garbage bins and a bench. She was clearly enjoying herself.

"Oh, hi K! I must say, you look stunning in that dress. Wait until everyone sees these pics!"

She said, showcasing a crystal-powered camera.

"I'll save you for later. Did you have something for me, or was the whole point of this meeting to make me want to hate you?"

Tyra laughed. "Oh yeah, I broke into their armory where your rifle had been put to, and picked up your clothes from that house."

"And why, exactly, couldn't you save me there?" Kinessa asked furiously.

"Well, they were more exposed here and easier to take down, so why would we have? Relax, let's just kill these guys and get out of here. No need to dwell in the past. You have 25 seconds to gear up. You too, V. It would be a shame to ruin a suit that good-looking."

Kinessa didn't look convinced, but wasted no time getting changed. (Viktor looked politely away.)

As soon as she was done, the group members nodded at each other before getting to work. And soon the poor mercenaries witnessed the true potential of the special forces.

Strix was of course one of their biggest fears. Loud, powerful shots, coming from somewhere they couldn't identify, his kills got some to run for their lives, before they too fell to his rifle.

Tyra was lost in the fight, only stopping to reload and slapping on her drum magazine whenever she could. Rifle grenades and firebombs littered the battlefield as she strode her way past dozens of corpses. Reinforcements started converging against them from the other parts of the city, but soon they were all regretting ever setting foor there. Higher-ranking enemies fel a chill as she marked them for Strix, who was more than happy to assist.

At the same time, Viktor was reducing their battlements to dust. He flung grenades anywhere he could, and chased down any enemies attempting to regroup. Whenever he came across a cannon or a bunker, he called his friends manning he nearest long-range-cannons for a couple artillery barrages.

Kinessa fought like a whirlwind, her pent-up anger fueling the killing spree. Enemies hardly ever saw her, as one second, a powerful sniper shot took down one of them from the rooftops, then the other, a round of laser pellets struck down two more. The last guys could only surrender to their fate as a murderous figure appeared before them and took them down in seconds with her bare hands or rifle. Some of the battle reports told of a woman, appearing out of nowhere and dissappearing again in the blink of an eye without even doing anything, but then any guard who spotted her twisting into unimaginable shapes and screaming in agony as their bones broke without even understanding what caused it.

* * *

This went on for a few hours, until the village was clear of enemies. The streets were full of bodies, with blood flowing everywhere and only a few pained cries remained. The culprits of the mass murder gathered at the altar, where just a short while ago a wedding was about to take place. Now reduced to splinters, only one figure remained, whimpering pitifully behind the structure where he had landed after a powerful punch caused him to black out. He stuggled to get on his knees, but eventually managed. Just then did he spot the four figures who had reduced his budding empire into ruins even before lunch. He watched in fear as the shortest of the four, the woman with tan skin and serious eyes whom he had intended to marry, started to make her way to him.

"Oh, my sweet, thanks gods you're here! Please, save me from these barbarians, so we can start rebuilding our glorious…"

His voice faded away as the silent figure stopped right in front of him. She said nothing, just stared. Alzwel felt his death growing nearer as the air around her grew colder.

"Kinessa."

She spoke.

"W-What?" he asked.

She just stared at him, with dead eyes.

"Kinessa. That's the name of the person you were going to marry today. Kinessa, the survivor of Easthaven, Daughter of Mars, The Girl from the middle of somewhere. Don't forget that."

"No, I don't, I promise I don't, I'll never bother you, you'll never hear from me again, I promise!" he shouted with a pleading tone.

"Good," she said. Then she knocked him back with the butt of her gun and emptied the clip to his stomach. Extreme pain struck the man as thirty bullets carved a hole through him. Then she reloaded, extended her rifle and fired five powerful sniper blasts through his head. The Great Alzwel never bothered anyone again.

Kinessa made her way back to her friends, who looked at her with worry.

"You okay?" Strix asked. Kinessa stared at him, but her gaze was returning to normal.

"Sure. Let's rescue the villagers and call the specialists. I have a feeling these guys had some good gear in the making."

She staggered a bit, exhausted from using her ability so much, before Strix came to support her. As the group made their way towards the library, the other two walking behind Kinessa gazed at each other. They made a silent promise to never speak of this day again, especially in front of her. Without anyone looking, Tyra grabbed her camera and threw it into a fountain.

High noon rose above the village, free from oppression.


	8. Chapter 8: The Hostage

The Girl From the Middle of Somewhere

Part 8:

Quest: The Hostage

"Ok, try it now!"

A disc-shaped projectile flew through the air and landed perfectly on the opposing wall. As it landed, it started to glow softly blue as the crystal inside of it was activated. Then, as the pair watched, an energy beam shot out from the object and connected into a moving dummy next to it, which immediately slowed down to a crawl.

"Well, I'll be damned. You actually got it to work. Nice work, Sam!" Kinessa praised the self-satisfied quartermaster.

"It was quite simple, really. Those guys in there had already developed the technology pretty far, so I just needed to adapt it to be more versatile. It's a bit weaker, of course, but atleast you don't have to carry around a giant cannon in your back pocket." he told her.

It had been a few days since the incident at the village, and life was starting to get back to normal. The Tech department was more than happy to get their hands on the mercenary gear. Sam especially was interested in the suppressing cannon Kinessa had witnessed in action, and decided that a portable version would be useful to develop for field operations. And as the hero of the mission, Kinessa got the chance to try out the first prototype.

"Well, thanks for these," she said as she grabbed the discs Sam handed to her. "I think I'll call these Oppressor Mines."

Sam nodded approvingly. "If that's good for you, then it's good for me. As long as you won't start naming them individually. They are pretty fragile, only intended for single use."

Kinessa laughed. "Who do you think I am, Tyra? What kind of an idiot would name their weapons?"

she said as she started to make her way out of the workshop. "Well, I'll be off. We have a team meeting."

Sam waved at her. "Take care!"

"Oh, and by the way," she called from the door. "The rifle's name is Buster now. Remember that!" she told him and disappeared. Sam sighed.

"It's spreading," he said to himself.

* * *

"What's up, guys? Any news?" Kinessa asked the squad as she entered the room (Which happened to be Viktor's apartment.)

"Well, we got good news and we got even better news," answered Strix. "The good news is that we got a couple days off due to our last mission. The BETTER news is that we have decided to spend it on Magistrate's annual combat festival."

Kinessa was practically beaming with excitement. "Nice! I've always wanted to go there! When do we leave?"

"Soory, kiddo, but the plan is different for you," Tyra cut in. "Rookies can't get in, you need to have a service time of at least six months. And I'm not sure if you've been told this, but the higher-ups weren't pleased that you took out the entire command chain of the bandits when they were supposed to be interrogated. What was the final count?" She asked aloud as Kinessa's smile melted from her face.

"2 decapitations, 3 executions, at least 7 mauled to death and apparently one was tickled so much he suffocated?" Strix counted.

"I just wanted to see if it was possible," she mumbled to herself. Tyra gave a short laugh.

"Well, anyway, you're not going. Also, you don't have any holiday."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Kinessa asked with a frustrated tone.

Viktor smiled. "You have some work planned."

* * *

9 hours later

Kinessa was cursing Viktor's name as she made her way through the mud. Apparently, as a punishment, she was being sent to be mission support. Not much details were given, but she had managed to find out that some lone Deepwerks scientist whose lab was located quite the distance away from the main facility was being held hostage in their own house. She was supposed to cover the Deepwerks guardmaster as they made a rescue attempt. "Not hard at all", they said. Just watch the perimeter, maybe blast a couple of skulls and let the guardmaster do their work. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, it could start raining heavily just when she had to start sneaking the rest of the way and turn the whole ground into brown mush. Just as it had happened. The past 30 minutes of coldness and dirtyness hadn't raised her spirits about the whole operation. Never before had she been more glad to see a rendervouz point when it finally lurked to her line of sight through the thick wall of water. She walked into a surprisingly warm and comfy cave just a couple hundred meters from the area of operations. "And of course that bloody guardmaster isn't here", she said aloud after noticing the cave to be empty.

"Or maybe she's just behind you," said a new voice just as she felt the barrel of a gun poking against her back. "You have exactly 2 seconds to state your business before I drag your cold, dead body ouside for your comrades to find." Acting purely on instinct, she spun around with the help of her slow-down, grabbed to barrel of the gun and threw the unknown assailant on the ground. It turned out to be a young woman, maybe a bit older than her, but she didn't have time make further identifications before she grasped at her throat. Kinessa quickly shook her off and grabbed her by the hair, getting a stifled scream from the foe. "Any last words?" she asked while staring her dead in the eyes. After a couple of seconds, the woman managed to cath her breath and whispered: "Have you met my friends?"

She wasn't expecting such an answer from someone completely at her mercy, but she didn't have time to think or respond when she heard a quiet noise from behind her. Even though she didn't turn to look, Kinessa's instincts told her that those "friends" were preparing to blow her head off. Slowly, not making any swift movements to give the unidentified threat a reason to attack, she let go of the assailant, reached for her gun and dropped it on the ground before raising her hands behind her back. The woman got up and grabbed her own weapon before pointing it at Kinessa.

"Where were we? Oh yes, your name and allegiance. Right now, because soon you won't have brains to operate your mouth with," she said while retaining her cold expression and keeping their eyes locked. The way she expressed herself made it known that this was not someone to be messed with.

"Kinessa Darkstalker, Kingdom Army, Sentinels," she replied to her. "And you are?"

The woman analyzed her for a bit before responding.

"Vivian Slywill, Deepwerks Security Forces. So you're the backup? Funny, I was expecting a real soldier, not a rookie," she told her, but lowered her gun which got her a sigh of relief from Kinessa.

"Well, I too was expecting an official Guardmaster, so I suppose we can't always get what we want," she struck back after noticing Vivian's trainee badge.

She could have imagined it, but the last comment seemed to cause a small blush to appear on the woman's face., though it quickly dissappeared.

"That's none of your consern," Vivian replied. "Master Ironheart is busy at the moment, so he trusted his junior guardmaster, that being me, to handle the situation. And I can guarantee you that's what I'm gonna do." She ended the sentence on a small whistle which sparked movement behind Kinessa. Two small, round contructs held together by orange energy flew towards Vivian and took place around her shoulders. Kinessa realized that those were the thing that had threathened her. Despite seeming harmless, she suspected they packed quite a punch if a Junior Guardmaster had been entrusted with them. Deepwerks staff was known for getting to test all the newest crystal inventions, which was a cause of constant rivalry between the Army and the Security Forces. Veterans also spoke of an incident which involved two goats, a dragon and half-naked Viktor putting together a band in the Deewerks lobby which was said to be the start of it all, but Viktor had always prevented anyone from telling it to her.

"Nice toys," she said to Vivian. "What do they do?"

Vivian scowled at her. "Sentinel drones. And before you can ask, no, they are not named after your unit. If you had threathened me any longer, they would have blown your head off and disintegrated the remains. So they're not toys," she growled though gritted teeth.

"Ok, I may not be in her good books at the moment," Kinessa thought to herself. But now that she wasn't actively in danger anymore, she got a chance to inspect her partner. She was slim, but probably stronger than she looked. Her short black hair had a red streak on it. Her long-sleeved top had a shoulder guard on her left side, from which a partial cape hung from. She was also wearing arm guards, but her upper body didn't have any more protection since the top revealed her midriff and cleavage, which seemed like an odd choice in apparel for an active combatant. She also had orange skintight pants and leg guards. When they told her she would be paired up with a guardmaster, she had been expecting someone with medium-heavy armor and a cheap cigar, not someone who was clearly dressing to impress. But she decided not to mention it to Vivian. If the Sentinels had faces, they would probably be scowling menacingly at her right now, and it seemed like they could start blasting her to pieces if only a thought of her being an annoyance crossed Vivian's mind.

After a few extremely akward silent moments, Kinessa finally broke silence. "Well, not that the introductions are out of the way, shall we get to it? I only got a short briefing, so a bit more info would be welcome."

Vivian glanced a her with a "I'm-seriously-working-with-this-idiot?"-face, but seemingly decided that some benefit could come from having an ally. And with her self-confidence, it said something about the gravity of the situation.

"Ok, listen up, rookie, because I don't want any mistakes from you during this op. Basically, one of our guys if locked up in his lab by an unknown number of enemy combatants. Their affiliation and intents are also unknown, but I think we can safely assume they are after his research. Our job is to go in, shoot at anything that moves until it stops and extract the hostage unharmed. Any questions?" she asked.

"Well, yeah. I knew that already. But HOW exactly are we doing that beforementioned strike? Do we have a plan?"

"Of course we have a plan," Vivian told her. "We just need a bit more intel before I can formulate it. And that's where you come in. You will go there, and take a look around. Simple as that."

Kinessa did not seem convinced. "Have you forgotten that I have a sniper? Why don't you go in, and I'll cover you?" she asked.

"Simply because I am the head of this operation and you were sent here to assist me, which means you will do as you're told or your commanding officer will hear about this," her pair replied coldly.

"Ok, fine. So how will I make my approach?"

Vivian smiled. Not a friendly smile, more like the smile of someone about to something incredibly stupid before finding someone else to do it.

"Oh, trust me, I have an ingenious disguise for you. They'll never see you coming."

* * *

"If this is your idea of an ingenious disguise, I'm not sure if they would let you pass a camouflage exam!" Kinessa shouted through the rain.

"Come on, it's foolproof! Looks just like theirs, you'll never be recognized!" Vivian shouted back. The strong wind whirling around them tried to catch the voices, making even short-distance communication challenging.

"Yeah, maybe if they are blind, deaf and have a bad case of dementia!"

Apparently, Vivian had knocked out a passing guard on her previous recon trip and confiscated their uniform. It was a simple grey jacket with long, baggy, green pants and a red beret adorned with an insignia she couldn't recognise, but it looked like just some swirls made by a 4-year-old. She had then proceeded to modify it to fit herself, until Kinessa had arrived to take the infiltration job. Unfortunately, unlike she seemed to believe, she wasn't excellent in everything. Especially her tailorship was so poor Kinessa doubted she could even fix a napkin. She had managed to make the uniform look like it was made for a woman, but the end product was so full of obvious stitching mistakes it looked far from professional. It also seemed like she had overestimated her own measurements, because the outfit was ridiculously baggy on Kinessa, who was just a bit shorter and less endowed than her. Overall, she looked less like a member of the group and more like someone trying to blend in with the group but being really bad at it; exactly the kind of look you would want to avoid. But Vivian, of course, acted like nothing was wrong as she was guiding her to the enemy-controlled area. At that moment, Kinessa decided that she had just entered the black-haired chick to the competition of "Top 5 worst bosses I've ever had the displeasure of working for."

As they were nearing the objective, a small house came into view. It was a simple, wooden shack, but that said shack happened to be surrounded by a military camp. Barricades, tents, spotlights, guard towers, this place had it all. And somehow, she was supposed to get in. They stopped on top of a small hill overlooking the camp.

"Do you have an entry point in mind?" she asked from Vivian.

"That's for you to figure out. Good luck," she replied and pushed her off the cliff.

It was just like something out of a children's book: a friendly helper reveals their true intentions as they push the hero to the belly of the beast. Except this time, the said helper hadn't been friendly to begin with, so it was expected. That didn't soften the fall, however, as Kinessa stumbled down the surprisingly steep drop until finally coming down on the bottom. She quickly got up and made her way towards the camp after sharing some insults and certain hand gestures with Vivian, who couldn't even see or hear her anymore.

The road to the house was paved, and the main gate of the camp had been built on it. Guards came in and went out all the time, but no one saw the lone figure creeping through the rain. They happened to be expecting a delivery, which was supposed to arrive in just a few minutes. Everything seemed to be in order as the courier arrived with the crate. What they hadn't noticed was a lone figure rising up from behind the rock just a short distance from the gate and grabbing the envoy before they could reach the lights of the main gate and silencing them with a short strike to the neck. The lone figure then grabbed the crate and took their place on the road as if nothing had happened.

Kinessa breathed a sigh of relief as the grunts let her pass. This was obviously routine to them, so nobody bothered to check her. A woman walking around with a military-grade rifle strapped to their back might have aroused suspicion anywhere else, but in here, it seemed like everyone's gear was a bit mismatched. She saw one guy with a shotgun and a shield. One girl was carrying around a bazooka loaded with shovels. Another guy had ripped off the top half of his uniform and sprayed the picture of a unicorn to his chest. His weapon of choice appeared to be a bubble animal. This group wasn't an organised military force, but a bunch of mercenaries put together by someone who wanted a job to get done.

"Well, makes my job easier," she thought to herself. When compared to some of the fashion disasters around her, Vivian's uniform looked almost bearable. But as hilarious as some of them seemed, they were obviously trained and dangerous. And they still had a hostage who needed rescuing.

"What do you think you're doing? Put down that crate!"

A sudden voice snapped her out of her thoughts, as a professional-looking man strode towards her. She dropped the crate as the man came to inspect it. After about a minute, he let out an approving grunt and took it to himself.

"Report back to Squad B as soon as possible. You're in charge of the prisoner," he told her and took off leaving the infiltrator dumbfounded.

"Well, this is almost too easy," she thought. "Where's all the tight security I was promised?"

Then a giant green lizard walked front of her. From beastiary classes, she immediately recognised it to be a Deepdrake. They were usually found on caverns preying on miners and adventurers, but somehow these guys had tamed one. Their hearing was so acute that they could notice changes in human pulse to detect liars, and they had perfect night vision. The perfect guard dog for someone wanting to keep intruders out. It was a miracle it hadn't noticed her taking out the courier from just sixty meters away. The lizard growled at her, but didn't attack. It seemed like the disguise was working. The beast's only weakness was its nonexistent sense of smell, which meant the only way it could recognise anyone was from sight alone. She resisted the urge to run away as fast as she could and started to make her way to the house. The drake stared at her the whole time, and she could feel its gaze on her back.

"Ok, things just got a bit more interesting.

On the way, she counted at least fifty enemies strolling the camp and four mounted guns positioned on the outer walls. They were Hacksaw Ultras, capable of tearing targets in half. Likely stolen from Magistrate barracks, it was certainly almost as unexpected to encounter such high-tech armaments here as it was to see a drake. Not wanting to stop and think about what would happen if she was discovered, she closed distance to the house as quickly but casually as she could, trying not to draw any unwanted attention. The guard standing on patrol in front of the door noticed her approaching.

"I haven't seen you around here. What are you doing?" he asked.

"I was tasked to guard the prisoner. You can go now," she replied while trying to sound like she had gotten clear instructions for the job. The guard squinted at her.

"I didn't think they would send a newbie to guard the target. Who's your squad leader?"

Panic began to rise in her throat. "Well, it's…umm…you know, that guy who always yells and…"

"I think it's best if you just surrender and I'll take you to the boss, he'll decide what to do to you," he cut in and reached out to grab her arm. What he didn't expect, however, was a sharp kick to his diaphragm, followed by a neck snap from the intruder. Kinessa quickly dragged his lifeless body inside and shut the door. She knew she had to be quick: the real guard from Squad B would likely arrive soon and notice the absence of the man now stuffed to the corner of the house. She looked around. The house was really small, only consisting of a bedroom and a kitchen. Small stairs led to the upstairs attic, but there was no sight of the prisoner. There was, however, a locked trapdoor underneath the kitchen table. Throwing caution into the wind, she kicked the table off and shot open the lock. The trapdoor revealed stairs leading to a hidden basement. Kinessa looked down, and noticed that this was the real lab. There was machinery everywhere, and spare parts were laying all over the place. Before closing the trapdoor, she threw an Oppressor Mine next to the doorframe. It immediately connected to a crystal contact lense in her left eye, marking its position through walls and giving her the mine's live status, which was Inactive at the moment. Satisfied, she closed the trapdoor behind her and went down the stairs.

The lab was empty, except for a lone figure working with some kind of gadget on the workbench. It appeared to be a short, grey-haired old man in a lab coat. As the man noticed her approaching, he looked up from his work and let out a panicked cry.

"I'm so sorry, I thought I still had a few hours left, it still needs some fine tuning, but I promise it will be ready by the evening, I just…" he rambled before Kinessa shushed him.

"Don't worry, I'm here from the Kingdom's Army, working under The Magistrate. I'm here to get you out," she said.

The man looked at her dumbfounded, before bursting into tears and embracing her in a warm hug. She wasn't sure how to react to this sudden show of affection, but decided against blowing off his kneecaps.

"Thank you so, so much, I've been kept here for days, and they only told me I would get out if I finished the project, and they have given me hardly any food, and the guards just yell at me to work faster, and they took away most of my tools so I have pretty much nothing to work with, and it's just been horrible!" he seemed to unload all of his pent-up frustration at the moment. Kinessa wasn't sure what to do. Psychology wasn't her strong suite, considering her guardians hadn't been the most emotional people around. So she just simply patted him on the back and hoped it would help. Surprisingly, it did, and he released her and dried his tears. He seemed a lot more lively now, as if all the danger had lifted now that someone had come to save him. Kinessa didn't have the heart to tell him there were still dozens of enemies waiting to gut them both when they found out what had happened.

"Well, we should probably get moving. I want to breathe in some fresh air. I'm Hugo, by the way. And who might you be, young lady?" he asked.

"Kinessa Darkstalker, but just call me Kinessa. But no time for introductions, we are still in the middle of the enemy territory. We need to move fast, but quietly."

Hugo looked confused. "But if those brutes are still around, how are we ever gonna get out? They have a drake, in Gods's names! Where's your backup?

"The Junior Guardmaster of Deepwerks is covering me, but other than that, I'm alone," she replied to the dumbfounded scientist.

"Vivian? Hah, that girl probably had to ingratiate Ironheart for hours before he let her go with minimal backup. She's so eager to prove herself I wouldn't be surprised if she sent a live Gorlock to the beastiary team to get some good feedback from them. Who even cares about the beastiary team? I have a feeling that after this all is over, she'll try to steal all the glory and that way get in my good books. Don't worry, I won't forget you."

Kinessa couldn't help but smile. This guy had the heart of gold. The world needed more people like him.

"I haven't actually heard what you are doing here all alone," she stated. "What's so important nobody should know about it?"

"Oh, it's just a little project of mine: I'm trying to combine ancient Ska'drin runes with modern crystal technology to create portable teleporters for paralyzed children. You know, nothing unusual. I don't get why these guys make such a big deal about it. They just storm in and force me to rush my research! Can you believe that?"

Kinessa was shocked. Teleportation was rare, even during this golden age of technology, and it was unpredictable and dangerous. If he truly had mastered the Ska'drin ways of rune teleporting, it would revolutionize transportation, both in military and civilian use. No wonder these guys wanted him so bad!

"Ok, we need to get out of here. Is there something-"

She was cut off by the shouting coming from above. As she looked up, she saw the status of of her mine turn Active, and pained cries started coming from the room. The device was clearly working, but wouldn't hold the opposition for long.

"We need to move," she told Hugo. "Is there another way out?"

He shook his head. Kinessa sighed.

"Then we gotta do this the old fashioned way," she said as she climbed up. She blasted the trapdoor open and fired blindly. Two screams confirmed two kills, but more were coming as she climbed up.

"Hurry!" she shouted at the scientist as she she opened fire. Enemy after enemy fell, but soon they would overwhelm them. Vivian had probably heard the commotion, but it would take time for her to climb down and attack the fortified camp. RIght now, they needed a way out, and fast.

"Here, climb upstairs and throw this out the window!" Hugo said and handed her a strange metallic device, which was pulsating with crystal energy.

"You first!" she told him and pulled Hugo out just as the second wave stormed in. She watched as he dissappeared upstairs, and followed after dropping three more enemies. The carbine was making short work of the unarmored targets, but they had power in numbers. She threw down the rest of her mines before climbing up, and smiled at the sounds of agony and frustration coming from downstairs. In the attic, Hugo was standing with a device of the same kind on his hand.

"Throw it!" he commanded. Kinessa knew they had no time left, so she obeyed. She threw the device out the window as forcefully as she could just as Hugo did the same. When airborne, it seemed to stabilize before gliding softly and landing just off the ground. For a brief second nothing happened. Kinessa glanced at the stairs and saw at least five enemies with weapons raised, ready to shoot them down.

Then, she felt a strong pulling feeling in her stomach, as if she was collapsing upon herself. The attic and the soldiers dissappeared, as she felt like she was being squeezed as a ball through a really tight tube. The moment of discomfort seemed to last forever, and she was starting to wonder whether the device was some sort of a crowd control grenade, made to immobilize targets so they could be eliminated. If that was so, then she had seriously misjudged Hugo, and they would both soon die in a hail of gunsfire and balloon animals. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it ended, and she felt herself falling to the ground. Almost immediately, she turned around and threw up into a convenient trashcan.

"Yeah, the first time is a bit unpleasant," she heard Hugo say. As she stood up wonkily, she noticed that they were somehow outside the house. She could see the attic window, with two holes in it, and the enemies swarming at the door. She fell down completely.

"H-how are we here? We were just there, we were about to DIE. Is this an after-death hallucination?"

Hugo chuckled. "No, it's my teleportation project. It's called the Transporter. We just traveled through a temporary, one-person wormhole and it dropped us off at it location. The only side effect I have ever gotten was that my hair somehow dyed completely white and my clothes turned turquoise-pink. Other than that, it's flawless. Convenient, right?"

When thinking back at the experience, "Convenient" was not the word that came into her mind. "Debilitating" was more like it, but she had no time to dwell on that. The enemies would soon guess what happened. She grabbed Hugo's hand.

"Let's go, before they-" she was cut off by a huge foot coming down and crushing the space she was about to step into. As she looked up, she saw the Deepdrake growling at them, obviously about to relieve them of their heads. Acting quickly, she threw herself to the ground dragging Hugo with her, just as the giant teeth of the beast locked above them. The attack had missed, but the drake would soon resume its assault. Even worse, it had gotten the attention of the mercenaries, who were now pointing and shouting at their direction. Without saying a word, she took her companion's hand and led them away towards the main gate. Shots rang and the drake roared behind them, but they didn't stop to look back. On the way, she threw off the heavy jacket and the beret to get her arms to move freely. She hadn't noticed it, but one of the enemies had gotten a lucky shot at her chest, but the breastplate had blocked it completely leaving only a faint mark. It didn't matter on the long run, though, since they could always aim at her head. No armor was gonna save from that, as she was painfully aware. The matters took a turn for the worse as they turned the last corner and saw that the main gate had been closed. Kinessa swore. Their only obvious exit was cut off, and she had no time to look for another. The enemy forces were closing in, and they were being pushed to a corner. There was no escape from this. She reloaded and took aim, preparing for the final stand as the first enemies came into sight, bloodlust gleaming in their eyes.

Just then, a weird rumbling started coming from the outside. It sounded like some kind of engine, coupled with with weird bangs like a malfunctioning zeppelin. Everyone forgot that they we supposed to be killing each other and turned to look at the gate, which had started to creak as something was being pushed against it. Carefully, two enemies started walking towards the gate to investigate. Everyone seemed to hold their breath. Then, just as they were close enough to touch it, the whole contraption blasted open as if a stone giant had kicked it. The pieces of the gate flew to the courtyard, killing the two mercenaries as well as injuring a few more. From amongst the rubble, a familiar black-haired guardmaster walked, accompanied by two flying Sentinels.

"Hi, rookie. I thought you might need some help."

Everything seemed frozen in place, so much that Kinessa began to wonder whether she had accidentally slowed time agains. The dots were slowly connecting in the heads of the enemy force. Why was this chick in orange apparel here? How had she blown up a dwarven-made gate? Vivian noticed their confusion and nodded at Kinessa, who knew immediately what she implied. She grabbed Hugo just as a continuous hail of gunfire and explosions started raining down on the enemy force. It seemed impossible that one person could hold so much firepower, but apparently this was normal to Vivian, who calmly mowed down the opposition while her drones spit out explosive energy charges. The remaining foes made a smart tactical retreat and could only helplessly watch as their hostage was being led out of the former gate. As Kinessa and Hugo reached Vivian, she left the Sentinels to cover them as she hurried to check on the scientist.

"Doctor Goodwill, so good to see you are unharmed. Do you remember me? We met in the Deepwerks Annual Progress Week."

"Sure I do, Vivian," he responded. "I also happen to remember that a certain someone fell face first into a mead barrel when they tried to pass me the croissants. How could anyone be that careless in the presence of a high-ranking scientist?"

Vivian blushed and mumbled something incomprehensible, which indicated that this certain event was a sore spot and maybe slowed down her career considerably. Kinessa cracked a smile. Even the ice queen seemed to have a weak spot.

The smile was short-lived, however, as the drake rushed back o the scene. Vivian and Kinessa both immediately opened a barrage towards it, but the rounds only seemed to make it angrier.

"How is it not dead? Vivian took down an entire gate with her gun alone, how can one drake brush us both off?" the sniper asked aloud.

"It's a special breed. Its scales resist energy blasts. Crystal energy-based weapons are actually less effective against it than conventional firearms," Hugo answered.

The situation was quickly turning back against them. The enemies regained their confidence as their biggest ally began to charge down the intruders, and the escapees were forced to flee. But they were still very open. The drake could simply charge after them. Kinessa knew that the only way they could ensure their escape was to kill the drake. The problem was that they had no usable weapons against it. But as she took a look around, a plan began forming in her head. A crazy plan, but a plan nonetheless.

"I gotta take out that thing! Do either of you have anything sharp?" she asked. Vivian looked at her as if she was insane (which she probably was, considering the stunt she was about to perform) but then reached a hand for her head and handed her one of her hairpins. In her hand, the seemingly small hairpin seemed to unfold and expand, until she was holding a stiletto. Kinessa took it without a word and turned back. The rush against overwhelming enemy force would have killed any normal human, but she knew that considering the situation, she could let a little loose. Reaching deep into her mind, she forced her perception of time to change. Immediately the whole area seemed almost frozen in place, and she swiftly strode past the enemies, stabbing a few of them in the process. She had set her sights on a watchtower near the center of the camp. As she reached it, she jumped up to the ladder and started climbing. Time returned to normal as her strength drained, and the mercenaries noticed the figure climbing up. One of the drake handlers whistled a command. The beast turned around, and rammed against the watchtower. The tower began to fall, but Kinessa had anticipated the move. As she fell towards the drake, she jumped off the ladder and to everyone's surprise, landed on its back. Even the drake itself couldn't seem to understand why now a tiny human was hanging off one of its spines. She slowly climbed up until she reached the beast's neck. The drake tried to shake her off, but she had gotten a good hold of it. Once the shaking stopped, she stabbed her adversary with the stilnetto-hairpin. Some of the enemies on the ground laughed at the sight of a soldier trying to take down a giant Deepdrake with a small knife, but that wasn't her intention. While the scales were tough, there was space between them in which her knife fit just fine. And after a few good strikes, she managed to pry one of them off, earning a cry from the drake.

"You think that hurt? Wait till we get to the main course," she told the drake. It tried to shake her off again, but she was dug in too deep now. Quickly, she unslung her rifle, pointed the barrell at the opening and emptied the entire magazine. Ground shook as the drake thrashed around in pain and eventually fell down. Kinessa jumped off and ran past the stunned mercenaries. Magically enhanced beasts usually needed to concentrate to utilize their powers fully, similar to her innate ability. The drake had no hope of keeping up its energy protection with dozens of blasts burning at its neck, which is why she now jumped up to one of the Hacksaw Ultras and turned it towards the unfortunate predator, who just now managed to understand that the tables had turned.

"I wish Tyra could see this," she thought to herself and pulled the trigger.

The drake tried to brace for the oncoming fire, but it was futile. It did manage to block the first few shots with concentration, but soon the magical barrier collapsed completely and it was left with only normal scales as protection. That was short-lived, too, as the oncoming fire swiftly blasted them off. Machine gun tore its way through the drake's vulnerable flesh all the while its victim was screaming on the top of their lungs. Then, after a few seconds, the assault stopped and the beast collapsed. Kinessa ceased firing. The Hacksaw had riddled the drake's side with deep holes, each would have fit her arm. The scene was so gruesome that some of the less experienced mercenaries threw up. At the gate, Vivian, who had witnessed the whole thing, let a small smile creep to her face. It deepened as all the enemies in the camp dropped their weapons and ran out, trying to get as far away as possible from a demon woman who had taken down a drake by herself, not even caring about the guardmaster or the hostage they were running past. She let them go, and a few moments later heard screams of terror. She had positioned her friends just outside the gate to slow the attackers down. But now their job had turned from distraction to total slaughter, since panicked enemies had forgotten to check their sides. But the bloodied woman walking down from the Hacksaw now had her full attention. She went to greet her with Hugo, who had hid somewhere and was just now seeing the drake corpse. His face was priceless.

"Well, rookie, it seems like I underestimated you. I suppose your team won't mind if you come to Deepwerks with us? We think you've earned a tour."

Kinessa nodded. Only few people were allowed inside the facility who were not employees. She was pretty exhausted, but managed to still appreciate the gesture. Probably not many got an invite from a Junior Guardmaster herself.

"Yeah, let's go. Besides, I think Hugo has a risk of developing PTSD after that show, so he'll need proper care," she said as they both holstered their weapons and helped the former hostage to his feet. It was a long way to Deepwerks, but they didn't mind. After this operation, they all needed some quiet time.

* * *

Viktor, Strix and Tyra were waiting outside Deepwerks as Kinessa stepped out. Despite being given full access to the facility, she was still an outsider and was given an armed escort to get her off the grounds. They left after she stepped outside the gate, leaving the team alone.

"Well, what happened? From what we've heard, you put up quite the ruckus in there. Care to explain how that earned you a ticket to the most secure facility under Magistrate's rule when your job was support and recon?" Viktor asked. Kinessa grinned.

"Oh, not much. Just met some new people, light opposition and local wildlife. In short, an ordinary day. Plus, I got a new toy from one of my new friends," she told and pulled out a weird metallic contraption. She tossed it away and to the bewilderment of her teammates, disappeared and reappeared at the location it had landed to. She smiled at their amazed faces.

"Well, come on, what are you waiting for? I need to hand out my report, and you still haven't told me anything about the festival!" she said and disapeared again. Viktor wasn't sure, but he thought he heard the laugh of an old man and a young woman coming from the facility when it happened. But he shrugged it off. Right now, their prodigy had some explaining to do. That new toy of hers was pretty neat.

"Let's move. We need to catch that girl and make sure she tells us about her new friends."


	9. Chapter 9: The Assassin

The Girl From The Middle Of Somewhere

Part 9: The Assassin

The sky was grey that day, which was quite fitting considering the mood. Hundreds of soldiers were swarming the clearing amidst the Capital's numerous roads. Everyone had abandoned their personal gear in favor of Magistrate's official white-black uniform. The commaders had donned every medal they could dig up from the depths of their drawers. The events requiring the use of the uniform were few and far between, but when some did come up, their usage was mandatory. This was one such event. To everyone's surprise and sorrow, the beloved General Stonebond had passed away in his sleep just three days earlier. He had been old, but lively and full of energy, and every doctor who examined him promised at least a few more years of active service if he so wished. And he did. No general before in the history of the Kingdom had shown such dedication and love to their troops. His departure was a huge loss to the whole army, and even caused every active operation to be called off, although it slightly irritated Stalker Squad, who had just spent three years infiltrating The Thousand Hand Guild. Still, every troop was wanted at the funeral, as if someone would have even dreamt of missing it. There was no recruit, no officer, not even a single chef in the entire army who wouldn't have given one of their own fingers for a chance to say their final goodbyes to the beloved General. And that included the Sentinels.

"Do I really need to wear this? I doubt old man would mind someone donning full tactical, just in case," Kinessa whined. "It's just too loose!"

"Well, you should have maybe considered ordering it right away, instead of leaving it for the last second," Tyra answered. "Bear with it, we'll get our turn just after the commanding officers, then you can leave and wear whatever you want."

Kinessa rolled her eyes. She too had liked the general, but she doubted he would have liked this formal ceremony as his funeral. When she thought of Stonebond's funeral, she thought of music, dancing, laughing, friendly fights, drinking contests and arm wrestling championships. Maybe a few veterans telling stories of the old man. That's what he would have liked. Instead, hundreds of troops were crammed into this clearing, waiting for the coffin to arrive. Thousands more were on their way and would arrive in a couple of days. They would visit the grave over the coming weeks, before resuming their duties and waiting for a new general to be elected. But that was ages away. As was the ceremony, or so it seemed. They had already been stading around for half an hour. The speeches would take twice that, and then an unkown amount of time would pass before it was the Special Ops team's turn to go greet the general. To Kinessa: It meant that she was already begging for the sweet release of death. But no matter how much she wished for it, the time only seemed to slow down, not speed up.

"Wait a minute…"

A thought had sprung to her mind. If she could use her innate ability to make time appear to move slower for herself, why couldn't it work the other way? It took a few seconds of deep concentration and pained faces, but eventually, she felt something. As she looked around, the birds were flying at super-speeds and the shuffling of the soldiers resembled the movement of hundreds of ants. As she looked at Strix, she could see his eyes blinking almost nonstop. Even the coulds in the sky seemed like they were racing each other.

She smiled to herself. Maybe this day won't be so boring after all.

Little did she know that it was about to turn a whole lot more exciting.

* * *

After about two hours (which seemed more like two minutes to a particular soldier) the Sentinels stepped forward and started walking towards the coffin that had been laid out in the middle of the clearing. A group of just twenty, split up to five units of four, they seemed unassuming but everyone in the army knew they were not guys to be messed with. Especially the new member, the mysterious dark-skinned woman. In her short service time, she had gained quite the reputation. Just three months back, she had taken part in two ops, one enemy base clearing and one hostage rescue, both of which were said to have been successes because of her. It was rumored that she had a kill count of hundreds, and that she possessed mysterious powers despite being assigned to a regular, non-magic unit. To most, these were just regular army myths. But everyone was still on guard whenever they happened to be around her.

The Sentinels took formation when they arrived by the coffin, going unit at a time. Unit C was waiting for their turn as their colleagues said their goodbyes. After 10 minutes of waiting, Tyra turned to Kinessa.

"I must say, I'm surprised you managed to stand so still for so long without complaints. Guess I underestimated you," she praised.

"Don't you always? But look, Evena is finished. Our turn."

Viktor shushed them as Squad C stepped forward. One by one, they bent over the coffin and whispered their farewells to the dead general. Kinessa couldn't make out much, but she thought she heard Strix say something about a "reanimated lawn gnome," and Tyra seemed to apologise about some boxing match they had apparently been together in that involved baby dragons. When she left, it was Kinessa's turn. She felt that every eye nearby had been locked to her, but didn't care. They had been that way for months now. She got closer and stared at the cold, unmoving features of her former general. It took a while until she managed to get words out.

"Well, old man. Here we are. You wanted to go out by surprise? Fine by me, you did always like to give us some scares. Like that one time in the trainee party. You showed up dressed as a chicken with no invitation. I'm pretty sure none of us had felt real fear before that, and that says something. You know about the cookie incident, so I don't have to tell you that it's not easy to frighten me. I still remember the first time we met. I was just a kid, rescued from the ruins of my village." For the first time in years, she could feel a couple of tears running down her cheeks. "I was overwhelmed with grief, I believed that the world would end without Mars and that these new people could never make me feel at home, like I was a part of a family again. But you weren't even slightly surprised when Strix took me to see you. You just promised to keep an eye out for any leads on the Decimators, and welcomed me to join the hunt if I wanted to. Me. A scrawny kid from a destroyed village being invited to the army, even though I couldn't even be considered a candidate for years. Guess you never got a chance to send me to seek for them, after all. But still, no one else would have ever done something like that. And that speaks a lot about you. So, General Stonebond, I just wanted to say that we'rE UNDER ATTACK!" She screamed the last words out loud as the first projectiles rose to the skies from the treeline. They were flaming balls of destruction, crashing down upon the city and causing massive damage from just the first few hits. In a flash, the security appeared and took off with key personnel, including Grand Magister Karne. The rest scattered, probably trying to reach the barracks to recover their weapons. As if on cue, the Sentinels ripped off their uniforms, revealing their own gear underneath. They reached out their hands and from the windows of the surrounding houses, aides threw various weapons to their owners. Kinessa caught her rifle, followed by Oppressor Mines and Transporter in a pouch. Tyra was already taking the safety off from her own gun and loading it with grenades.

"I've always wanted to do that," she said with a grin.

"Me too," Kinessa anwered.

"You can thank the guys later, we have a city to save!" Viktor shouted at the two. Strix had already dissappeared from sight, probably heading to one of his defensive sniping spots. Normally, Kinessa would have followed him, but in the last few months, she had been utilizing her teleportation and innate ability to swiftly swich sniping points and attack positions, giving her far more mobility than any other sniper in the army and allowing her to perform wild, aggressive strikes. She saw Viktor heading down the main street with two other Sentinels, while Tyra climbed up on top of a nearby house and began to jump from roof to roof, probably heading for northern gate. Kinessa herself activated her intercom before heading east. The first shots had come from there, and she wanted to see the enemy firsthand to know what they were dealing with.  
"Sorry, general, we need to postpone this meeting," she said to the corpse before throwing her device and disappearing in a flash of energy.

* * *

The streets were swarming with panicked citizens and soldiers struggling to get to the battlements. The outer walls had minimum defence, since only a handful of personnel had been left to defend them due to the funeral. Kinessa dashed across the rooftops with a few more agile types, bypassing the chaos unfolding below them. The eastern part of the city was home to the shopkeepers, craftsmen and a few soldiers. Kinessa passed Strix's apartment on the way, and saw Fletch in front of her shop.

"Nessa, what's going on? Are we under attack?" she asked.

Kinessa let out a frustrated groan. "No, you idiot, we're not. They came to pay their respects to the general with fiery balls of destruction. Of course we're under attack!"

"Sorry, I'm just a bit shocked at the moment. Cass, how are we looking?"

"I'm counting at least two thousand hostiles outside the city walls. Heavily armed, and they have siege weapons," a new voice could be heard from the inside. Out stepped a woman with an impossibly long braid of bright-red hair. She was dressed in a huntress's garb, and wielded a crossbow. Kinessa could faintly remember seeing her a few times entering Fletch's shop.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot the introductions. This is Cassie, she's the daughter of one of my dad's best friends. I might have mentioned her to be my best customer. She's also a good shot, and has agreed to help," Fletch told her.

"Pleased to meet you," Kinessa said and brifly shook Cassie's hand. "How can you tell what's going on? Do you have friends at the wall or something?"

Cassie smiled. "You could say so." She whistled, and a large bird with brilliant red feathers swooped down and landed on her outstrethed hand.  
"This is Zigs. He's my best friend and companion, and due to a thing the background of which I'm not so fond of explaining at the moment, we have shared vision. I saw the enemy through his eyes," she explained.

"A useful skill to have," Kinessa admitted. She leaned in closer and whispered a question to Cassie's ear:

"Innate?"

Cassie seemed shocked.

"How did you know?" Then understanding settled in her mind. "You, too?"

Kinessa nodded. "We can talk about it later, but right now I believe we have an invasion to deal with."

"Right," the huntress agreed. "I'll send Zigs back up again. Then we'll help the civilians."

"You do that. And if anyone tries to get you to leave, just tell them you have my permission to fight. If they don't know me, tell them I'm a Sentinel," Kinessa instructed her.

"What about me?" Fletch cut in on the the conversation. She had been standing unusually quiet, but now she seemed to have gotten over the fact that her home was being invaded. But she was her father's daughter, and was having none of that.

"Well, you don't have any particular fighting skills I know of, so if you want to help, you could always deliver the Bolthead squad some trick arrows. They know what to do with them."

Fletch nodded. The said bow specialists were some of her customers, so the task shouldn't be too hard.

"Alright, let's go. For the Magistrate!" Kinessa yelled.

"Why for the Magistrate? Why not for the Realm?" Cassie asked suddenly. Kinessa was dumbfounded.

"Well, that's usually what we shout when we go to battle. How so?"

Cassie scoffed. "Magistrate hasn't been up to any good lately, believe me. That idiot Karne is trying to ban crystal magic from the working class! We should all follow Valera, she knows what's good for the people."

Kinessa sighed. She had no time for political dispute. It was true that Grand Magister Karne and Valera, the former leader of the legendary Paladins, had butted heads for the matter many times. Some even spoke of the possibility of a war. She didn't really care how it turned out, but didn't want to argue with her new ally.

"Whatever you say. For the Realm!"

* * *

the fight was in full strife by the time she arrived at the gate. The outside of the wall was swarming with enemy troops. Arrows and energy blasts were being traded between the defenders and the attackers. The enemy was trying to break down the gate with some sort of cannon.

"Wait, wait, wait, cease fire, CEASE FIRE!" Kinessa shouted down at the hostile force. Surprisingly, the firing stopped.

"Thanks. Why are you trying to break down the gate? We have controls here for operating it. I can get it open for you in no time. Would you appreciate that?

The enemy was stunned to silence by this new apparent ally. No one moved a muscle. Then, one important looking guy in armor nodded.

"That's the spirit," she told them. "Hold on a sec."

She turned around and pulled a lever next to her. Hidden compartments began opening all over the wall. From them, several impact explosives were launched against the unprepared enemies. Kinessa and the other defenders laughed with glee as the bombs decimated the front line of the attackers, earned them hundreds of angry shouts and resumed fire.

"They really believed that?" She asked aloud as she whipped out her rifle and teleported to a better vantage spots. Three seconds and three shots later, three enemy snipers who had been aiming at her were down, and she began to pick off random enemy commanders.  
The fight went on for 10 minutes before the attackers managed to get another cannon at the gate. The soldiers had no more tricks left, and with a couple of blasts and a mighty crash, the weakened gate cracked and left a man-sized hole to go through, which was quickly expanded. Attackers flooded from the opening, and even as all fire was focused on it, they eventually managed to break through. On the frontline marched heavily armored troops, who quickly extended their energy shields and began to march forwards ignoring the constant firing. Their design was clearly copied from the Heavy Magistral Armor, used by the elite knights of the Magistrate. That meant that however invincible they seemed, the shields did have a limit to their durability. But before she could call in machine gun fire, the intercom cracked to life. Kinessa heard Viktor from the other side.

"Hey kid, we just got confirmation on the enemy identity. Now take a deep breath, and try not to do anything you might regret later. What I'm about to tell you is big, but we all trust your cool perfectly. Alright?"

"Alright," Kinessa answered. "Go on."

"They are the Decimators."

* * *

Long silence followed. Fight went on around her, but Kinessa's mind had shut it off. The army that had detroyed her life, killed her guardian, forced her to flee from her home, they were here. Trying to do it all over again.

"Nessa? You still there? Come on, speak to me. I know this is a shock, but you need to calm down and regroup with us. Then we can…" Kinessa shut the intercom. She couldn't help it. She was trying to follow his advice, but her body had stopped responding to commands an eternity ago. Or maybe several eternities. Or maybe time itself had ceased to exist. She could feel with a sense of dread the familiar feeling of murderous intent filling her mind. The same one that had turned her on killing autopilot during the exam and in the village. But this time it was different. She had lost control completely. This was not some trick to use for winning or personal gain. It was an unstoppable primordial force that couldn't be contained by a single woman. She quickly realized that she was loosing to her own power. Time was completely still as she stood up. She could see bullets frozen midair, still bodies in the air dropping from the wall. But her eyes had lost all life. She knew that this time, there was no coming back. When she would wake up, she would have completely burnt herself out and surely caused some long-term damage to her body. If she would wake up. Who knew? She had never been this deep in this unfamiliar zone before, this force that was raising her weapon and pumping her muscles so full of strength she felt like they would burst. How much suffering would she cause herself by doing this? Even worse, how many losses would she cause to her allies? No one was friend or a foe in her eyes anymore. They were moving sacks of worthless, filthy meat, waste of space that needed to be put out. She was not one of them. She was a queen, always meant to be above them, rule over them, hold their petty lives in her hand and snuff it out whenever she felt like it. Where had these foreign thoughts come from? Who was whispering them to her ears? Well, it was too late now. She could feel the last vestiges of her willpower fading.

"I'm so sorry, everyone."

Her last thought rang inside her weakened mind as she let the murderous darkness take control.

And then she lost her balance and fell over.

"Sorry, Kinessa. I might have overdone it a bit," said a familiar voice. Kinessa raised her head as she could feel the terrifying darkness withdrawing back deep into her mind. She felt back in control again, and turned to look at her saviour.

It was Cassie. As she looked behind her, she could see the armored knight groaning on the ground as focused fire finished them off. Considering the damage caused to the environment, a large blast had likely happened in the middle of the street right behind them.

"What happened?" she asked groggily. Her muscles felt still numb, and she could hardly stand upright.

"Oh, Zigs told me your group was struggling with those big guys, so I jumped off the rooftop and fired a Blast Shot that knocked them over. I just think I may have used a bit too much energy, because it also got a few of our guys, including you. No hard feelings?"

Kinessa realized that Cassie's shot had saved her. Her concentration had broke as she fell over, loosing the grip of her inner darkness. She shuddered when thinking of what might have happened without the red-haired huntress.

"Thank you. You have no idea how much you just helped. I gotta go now, don't die before we can chat in peace!" She told her and took off, leaving her colleagues to handle the remaining foes at the eastern gate.

* * *

The whole city was in chaos. Apparently other gates hadn't held as well as the eastern one, and now the streets were swarming with invaders. Fights were happening all around her as she was struggling to get to a rendervouz point. She got into an ambush more than once on seemingly abandoned roads, and dealing with the attackers slowed her down considerably. Eventually, she could see Tyra poking her head up from atop of a building.

"Up here! Quickly, before they spot us!" she called for her.

Kinessa swiftly climbed up. Her Transporter had overheated, which meant it was unusable for several minutes. Usually she wouldn't mind walking, but when any street could be enemy-controlled, the thought of not having a backdoor was worrying.

Her team had gathered at the roof. They seemed fine, but none were unharmed. Strix's camouflage was burnt badly. Viktor's face was all bruises. Tyra had added a few more to her already impressive collection of scars. Nothing life-threathening, but seeing her usually unscathed friends in this condition spoke that they were fighting a force far greater than those encountered before.

"Good to have you here," Viktor said. "You didn't do anything reckless, did you?"

Kinessa decided not to mention the fact that she had been about to slaughter an entire street's worth of people and probably herself.

"Nope, kept my cool, nothing to worry about. What's the situation here?" she asked with and exaggerated upbeat tone that raised a few eyebrows.

"Well, the Decimators have broke in from every gate except for West, but we have managed to stop them at the lower levels of the city. We've interrogated some of them, and they revealed that their commander is coming with more troops." Viktor told her.

"Well, then let's just take out the commander. That should solve the problem."

"That's the plan," Tyra said. "But we still need to figure out where they are coming from. Squads A and B are protecting high-value targets, while D and E are assisting in bigger battles across the city. We can't watch all the entrances across the city with just the four of us."

Kinessa smiled. "Leave it to me. I found a new friend that can help with just that." She stood up.

"We have to go to the eastern gate, and there we'll look for-" she was was cut off by a sharp pain coming from her arm. As she looked down, she saw a tiny needle poking out.

"What the…" she managed to say, before she blacked out and collapsed.

* * *

"Come on, wake up now, we don't have time for your afternoon naps." The words were coming from behind a thick, unpenetrable fog. But she decided to ignore them. It was so nice here, so relaxing. She could finally just forget about everything that had happened before and…

SPLASH!

A bucket full of ice-cold water was poured on Kinessa's head, jolting her awake. She coughed, trying to get the liquid out of her lungs. As she looked around, she saw her teammates looking down on her.

"Did you have to? There are more ways to wake someone up!"

Tyra grinned. "But this is always the most entertaining one. And we couldn't go and brew you fresh coffee, we have a target coming up."

"The stuff they used to put you to sleep was quite potent. Even with anti-knockdown pills, it took us fifteen minutes to wake you up," Strix told her. As she looked around, she saw the bodies of two enemy snipers nearby. Apparently, they had shot her with tranquilizer darts.

"But why would they knock me out? The ones at the gate and the streets were more than happy to kill me."

Viktor shrugged. "No idea. Maybe the job of the snipers is to neuralize high-value targets for kidnapping. Why they though you were one, we will probably never know. Tyra got a bit rough on them after she thought they killed you."

"It wasn't my fault! I've seen Cloudgliders more durabe than those two!" Tyra exclaimed.

"Well, whatever the case, we have go move. Our position is likely compromised. Who did we have to find again?" Viktor asked.

"Oh yeah!" Kinessa remembered. "Let's go to the eastern gate. Look for a chick with crazy red hair, a crossbow and a bird. You'll know when you see her."

* * *

"Yeah, I see them. A big group, coming from the north. In the frontlines there's someone in a silver armor, I think that's the guy you're looking for."

The team was standing around Cassie, who was sitting on the ground with her eyes closed. They could see Zigs flying high, scouting out the approaching enemy force. Kinessa's teammates were impressed. The bird was better than any drone the army had. Even if they had deployed them all, they couldn't have gotten this much intel in an hour. Cassie could practically seeing the entire city and the surrounding area with one glance.

"Thank you miss. We'll be on our way now." Strix said to her.

"No problem. By the way, Zigs likes you!"

"Well, he's always been a bit of a bird-brain," Tyra laughed as they bolted out of the ruined gate. The surrounding area had been secured, and almost half of the troops had been assigned somewhere else. The rest had been left for defense, but it didn't seem like the enemy would attack this gate again. The Army had suffered al least 250 losses from the 800 or so troops situated in the city at the time of the attack, but the enemy was down closer to a thousand. However, the oncoming reinforcements could turn the tide of battle if the commander wasn't eliminated on time.

"Ok, listen up people! We should reach them before they get out of the woods. So we flank them on four different sides, strike the commander down and dissappear before they know what hit them. Tyra takes northeast, Strix southeast. I'll go shouthwest, Kinessa northwest. Got that?" Viktor told them as they ran across the plains.

"Got it!" Three voices rang out.  
"Then let's move out, people, we have an assassination coming up!"

* * *

The thick woods hid her from sight as she dashed towards the enemy force. Cassie had noticed them by the old road that had been used as a trading route in the distant past, but was nowaday usually only populated by travelers and adventurers. Kinessa was making her way up a hill she knew had a good sightline to watch the road. If they were lucky, the strike would be over in under two minutes. When she arrived at the top, she laid down and took aim. She steadied her breathing. The sway of the scope lessened as her heart rate went down.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Breathe in, breathe out.

"I'm in position, ready to fire."

No answer. That made her concerned. Military-grade communication didn't usually malfunction. All gear spent years in testing, so malfunctions were extremely rare. The clearest possibility was that there was a jammer in the area. But why would there be? The enemies certainly couldn't carry it with them, all models were too heavy to be lifted. Unless it had been set here before. Unless they were expecting them.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here." She heard a new voice.

She felt a strong hit on her lower back, as if someone had stepped on it. Her rifle was kicked off from her grip. She slowly turned to look.

A woman in skintight purple suit was standing beside her, her heels digging into Kinessa's back. She was an elf, her pointed ears pointing out from her purple hair. Various throwing knives were attached to her person, and she had some kind of launcher strapped to her wrist. The said weapon was pointed a her victim's neck.

"Just who I was looking for!" She said with a playful, seductive voice.

Suddenly, memories sparked in Kinessa's mind. Years ago, she had seen the same colored-suit, heard the same voice. The same voice that had ordered the attack on her home village.

"YOU!" she cried out. The woman laughed.  
"Oh look, she remembers me!"

"And I'll soon show you how much I appreciate your work," Kinessa told her through gritted teeth.

"Ooh, sorry dear, but I cannot allow that. Someone is expecting you, and I have no time to play around. We haven't been intruduced, right? Skye, master assassin and a liutenant of the Decimators, at your service."

Suddenly, several shots could be heard from below them, as well as shouting and panic. Then, it ceased. Skye didn't seem surprised.

"Seems like your friends got my second in command. No matter, now that I have you we're finished here. Just come quietly and I'll call off the attack. Your friends will get to live! How does that sound?"

Kinessa tried to struggle, but Skye was keeping her in place with surprising strength. "How about this, crazy lady: You tell me what you want from me, then I kick you teeth in, cut off your pretty head and send it to your troops as a farewell gift as we blast them away from here."

Skye let out a dissappointed sigh.

"Well, I had to try. Sleep well, now, I'll take it from here," she said and loaded the same kind of tranquilizer dart into her launcher that had knocked her out before.

Kinessa tried to struggle again, tried to use her ability, but her thoughts were in disarray.

"Help!" She cried out, even when she knew nobody would come.

Skye chuckled. "Don't worry, you'll get help, just not the kind you'd expect. We'll free your from your burden," she told her and took aim. Kinessa prepared for the inevitable darkness.

Suddenly, she heard a cry of pain. The pressure the attacker was putting to her on her lower back eased, and she managed to stand upright. She saw that Skye was holding her hand in pain, and noticed that a throwing dagger was sticking from her ruined launcher. Before either of them could react, a pink flash collided with Kinessa and pushed her away from the attacker. They were both knocked down, but the figure swiftly jumped to their feet and pulled out more daggers from their coat.

"Maeve?" Kinessa asked in surprise. Indeed, the half-tigron had just appeared out of nowhere and saved her.

"Hello, kitty. I juzt thought you needed help."

As they watched, Skye took off her wrist launcher. Her hand was streaked with blood, but Kinessa knew that the weapon had blocked most of the damage, so the wound couldn't be deep. She threw the broken weapon on the ground and slid off one of the throwing knives from her thigh holster. She turned to face them and adopted a fighting position. Maeve did the same.

"Can't you just throw your knife and kill her?" Kinessa asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"She'z challenging me. My honor az a knife-fighter won't allow me to turn it down," Maeve explained.

"You street kids are weird," Kinessa muttered.

"Oh, she'z challenging you too. Look at her elbowz. She wantz to take us both at once."

"What?"

Maeve threw one of her knives for her. Kinessa caught it and stood up. Her knife-fighting experience was limited to training and one bet behind a bar three weeks ago. She tried to freeze time, but she was still distraught by the appearance of Skye and couldn't muster up enough concentration.

"Well, looks like we're doing this the old-fashioned way."

Skye stood waiting expectantly, and Maeve rushed to attack. Kinessa followed behind.

From the start, it was clear they had underestimated their opponent. She may have been alone, but she might as well have been a whirling vorex of death, as she blocked, sliced, parried, stabbed and slashed her knife with lethal skill. Kinessa had to focus all of her energy on staying alive, attacking was a faraway dream for her against this foe. Maeve fared a little better. She made daring dashes and lunges, and sometimes Skye even seemed a bit concerned about a stab that almost hit her waist. No matter how much she tried to fend her off, the cat burglar was too quick on her feet. She seemed to flow like a liquid during the battle, miraculously curving away from stabs that would have been fatal. Kinessa smiled. Seemed like this cat knew a few more tricks than she was aware of. The smile was short-lived, however, as one of Skye's stabs almost took her eye out. She felt the blade draw blood, as a straight slice suddenly appeared under her left eye. She quickly jumped back. Then Maeve pounced against her prey, forcing her to block and throwing her off balance. Kinessa saw an opening and flanked from behind, stabbing Skye in the back. Or she would have, if her enemy wouldn't have noticed it and pulled out another knife with elven grace and blocked the strike at the last second. As Maeve noticed this, she too conjured a second dagger from her sleeves. Skye scoffed at them and took on a dual-wielding stance.

Kinessa knew that the rules of the game had changed. Both fighter's auras had turned cold, dead serious. The battle before had been just playing around, a bit of warm-up. Dual knives meant that both women were out for blood, and that there would be only one survivor. She shivered. Combat situations and dangerous feats were her bread and butter, but this style of fighting was like a foreign culture to her. She raised her own dagger, but knew that she had been left out. Army training only included fighting with a single melee weapon. Dual wielding had to be learnt from the streets or underground teachers. As she watched, both fighters made an immensily fast dash against one another. The encounter was two seconds of mad clinking and flashing as four knives struck together dozens of times. Then they both jumped off, unharmed. The trio began to circle the area. Kinessa and Maeve on one side while Skye on the other. The assassin had lost all of her previous playfulness. Now she was obviously here to emerge victorious from whatever they would throw at her. If the fact made Maeve worry in the slightest, she was good at hiding it.

"Your skill is impressive, kittycat. Who's your teacher?" Skye asked Maeve.

"The streetz," she answered. "Yourz?"

Skye smiled. "Monks of the Silver Moon, with my own adjustements."

Maeve's expression didn't change, but Kinessa could see her gritting her teeth. The pink-haired girl glanced at her. She understood immediately.  
"Oh gods, she's going to do something stupid again," Kinessa thought to herself. What it would be, she wasn't sure, but that meant she would have to play along. She nodded at her. Maeve nodded back.

Suddenly, she dashed from across the arena to the other end with her knives held high. The strike would have likely decapitated a normal opponent, but Skye moved at the last second with unbelievable swiftness and timing. Maeve's dash missed her, and as she flew by, Skye turned around and roundhouse kicked her straight into a tree. The half-tigron slid to the ground with a trail of blood coming from her head.

Kinessa was shaken. The best knife fighter she knew, knocked out by a single move. Skye had seemingly only been toying with them all along, and just now unleashed the full potency of her skills. Before she could comprehend the fact, Skye dissappeared and appeared from behind her. Kinessa couldn't speak. Now she knew what the victims of her innate ability felt like. She hadn't even seen her moving, but here she now was.

"Allright, now that that annoying animal is out of the way, let's go. It was fun messing with you two, but I've wasted enough time already," Skye said to her. She struck her swiftly in the forehead, sparking a burst of pain and forcing her to her knees. She felt tight ropes being tied around her hands.

"This would have been so much easier if you had just gone to sleep. Well, I guess we can't always get what we want. Now come along, Or I'll have to hurt you. I can't kill you, but I'm sure sure she won't mind a few sliceEEEEESSSS!" She cried out and fell down. As Kinessa looked at her, she saw two daggers poking out from her. The other had struck her shoulder, but the other was tightly wedged in her back. Kinessa knew from Tactical First Care that the dagger had slid in from between Skye's sixth and seventh rib, and likely punctured her lung. Not an injury she would be walking away from quickly, without proper healers. As she looked back, she saw Maeve on her knees, hands stretched out. She had obviously threwn the daggers. She seemed a little dizzy and her face was streaked with blood, but her smile was victorious. Skye managed to turn her head to look at her.

"W-What happened to your knife-fighting honor?"

Maeve shrugged. "I'm a cat. Everyone knowz that catz don't play by the rulez."

Kinessa laughed. They had won. The culprit of the attack was immobilized and on their mercy. They had done it.

But to her surprise, Skye managed to stand weakly upright.

"Whoa there, assassin lady, where do you think you're going? You have a death sentence waiting for you!"

"I'm not going to die here," she wheezed. "I'll return, and next time you won't be so lucky!"

Kinessa rolled her eyes. "Do you realize how cliché that sounds? A defeated villain vows revenge on the heroes, and then escapes with some magical plot twist. I mean, who really does that?"

Skye grinned. "I do," she said, and dissappeared in a puff of smoke. Kinessa was left coughing on the ground, while Maeve ran out of the smoke to try to spot the enemy. But she had dissappeared into the woods. As she was told this, Kinessa used her wide repertoire of curse words, banged trees, kicked bushes and generally yelled at the world for letting the person she hated the most escape.

Maeve watched the outburst for several minutes. Finally she took the distraught soldier's hand and recovered her rifle.

"Let'z go, we need to get back to the city."

* * *

Several minutes later, they were walking down the road. Enemy reinforcements had scattered, dissappeared like their commander. Silence ensued for a long time, until Kinessa finally broke it.

"I guess I haven't thanked you for saving me yet. What are you even doing here?"

Maeve looked embarrassed. "Well, the zity got too hot for me, and so I decided to use the attack as a good cover for my ezcape to quieter waterz. But when I got into the woodz, I saw you running up he hill, and dezided to say goodbye, for old time'z sake. Then I saw that woman standing over you, and you know the rezt."

The story reminded Kinessa of the fact that this was the second time during the day she had only been saved by a lucky turn of fate and an unexpected helper. But that only raised a bigger question: Who wanted her so bad they sent an entire army to capture her? Against one of the mightiest armies in the Realm? Who was she? Nobody knew where she came from and who she was. Were the answers in her past? These questions circled in her head. Her pondering was however cut off by familiar figures appearing.

"Hey kid, over here!"

She looked up. Viktor, Strix and Tyra had all gathered in the middle of the road, standing on top of a huge corpse. She recognised it as their target, whom they had mistaken for the enemy commander.

Tyra came to ruffle her hair. "You had us worried there for a second. We must've called you a hundred times, and when you didn't take part in the strike, we feared the worst. But here you are now! What happened, did you fall asleep again? And why is this thief here"

"It takes some explaining," Kinessa said. Then she began to tell them what had happened after her communications were cut. She told them who Skye was and how she had ambushed her. How she had wanted to take her somewhere, and the entire objective of the attack seemed to have been her capture. How Maeve had saved her at the last second, and how they had fought against the assassin, and in the end emerged victorious. And how she had then slipped from them. The entire story took twenty minutes. In the end, her teammates didn't say anything for a good while. They exhanged looks, some worried, some confused, some angry as if they were communicating telepathically. Then they turned to look at the two.

"We need to report this. We got confirmation that the attack has been repelled. Apparently, the enemy force retreated around the same time as Skye did. This is the chance of a century. The Decimators are scattered, their commander is badly wounded, and their leader is wide open. If we commence a large-scale search, we can probably end them for good," Viktor told her. Kinessa's eyes lit up.

"So Mars will finally get some justice? Count me in!"

Viktor smiled. "Of course, kiddo. You're our team member, we'll go after them together. And speaking of justice…" he said as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs and stuck them to Maeve's hands.

"Hey! What does thiz mean?" Maeve exclaimed angrily.

"It means that you're under arrest. Any more obvious answers for stupid questions you want to hear?"

"But I saved Kinessa! Doez that count for nothing?"

Viktor laughed. "Nice work on that, but one life doesn't pay off the 173 burglaries you're wanted for. And remember that woman you stole the crystal hairpin from? She's Lian, Scion of House Aico, Heir of the Ruby Throne. She has demanded you to be handed out to her when you're caught. Her bodyguard wants to have a word with you. And we're keeping the jacket," Viktor told her as he ripped the garment off from Maeve. All color drained from her face.

"Don't worry, they don't really mean it. You'll get out in no time," Kinessa whispered to her.

"No, we do mean it! And she won't get out atleast until she's old enough to drink, if she survives from Khan," Viktor said back.

"Ok, it might be a bit more complicated, but it'll work out," she promised.

The day had been full of losses and victories, but Kinessa was feeling truly positive for the first time in a long while. She would go after Mars's killers with her best friends. At the moment, it was hard to think of anything that could ruin the moment.


	10. Chapter 10: The Renegade

The Girl From The Middle of Somewhere

Part 10

The Renegade

Kinessa's moment was ruined.

"NO SEARCHES?" she shouted.

Her teammates looked around embarrassed. Many heads had turned at the sound, but she didn't care. She must have misheard.

"Well, you need to consider the situation. We lost many troops in the attack, and the commanders cannot afford large, risky operations, especially without a general," Viktor tried to explain.

"I don't CARE how many ******* troops we lost! We'll never get a better chance! Go tell them that! Or better yet, I'll tell myself!" she said and started to march towards the commanders's tent. Tyra grabbed her and hauled her away from the scene with the others.

"LET ME GO! I'll teach them to make sensible decisions!"

Tyra sighed. "Calm down, or we'll have to throw you to the dungeons with Maeve. We can't have you attacking our leadership, especially when we're this weak at the moment.

Elders escaped and mothers covered their children's ears from Kinessa's rage as she was dragged through the damaged city. She tried to break free, but Tyra and Strix held onto her firmly. She was shaken. Those idiots tried to deny her of her vengeance. Skye and the Decimators would get away.

"If you calm down, we can go the higher-ups and ask them to reconsider. They know how things are, and they too want to strike back. But we cannot rush them," Viktor promised.

Kinessa immediately ceased struggling. Her captors let her go, and she stood up.

"Ok. I understand. Calm now. Let's go and see the higher-ups. Fine by me. Maybe they are smart enough to divert our attention to where it's needed."

Tyra smiled. "That's the spirit. Let's go." 

* * *

"Zo, how did you get in here?" Maeve asked. She was sitting in a cell, with awfully quiet Kinessa by her side. She hadn't said anything for ten minutes, not after some guards had come and thrown her in facefirst.

"I broke the Grand Magister's nose two seconds after he allowed me to have an audience with him. You know, the usual," she replied.

"Ouch. How did zat happen? I thought thingz were looking up for you?"

Kinessa sighed. "They were, until those idiots decided not to go after the Decimators. Something about our resources needed for medical care and city restoration. You could say I didn't take it well."

"Oh. I zee."

They sat in silence.

Long hours followed. The cell was located in underground dungeons beneath the Capital, and was one of the less-guarded cells used to hold criminals before their trial. Kinessa glanced at Maeve. She looked much smaller, less confident and missing her usual smug attitude without her coat and knives. She looked like a starving little kid, (like she was,) who did not deserve to be in a place like this. (Well, maybe she did, but that's beside the point.) For the first time, she felt actually sorry for her. Out there, she was the queen of the street kids, the master cat burglar and pickpocket Maeve. But down here, she was a pitiful little thing, abandoned by her parents at birth and raised by cats and the streets.

"Hey, where were you going?" she suddenly asked.

Maeve raised her head. "What?"

"Where were you going before you saved me and ended up back here? Did you have a destination in mind?"

"Oh yeah," she said, suddenly getting what she was talking about. "I waz heading for a new place. I heard about it from zome traveler I met a couple monthz ago. It'z a gathering place to all the rogues, travelerz, adventurers and unlucky who have lost their way and have nowhere to go. A pretty unknown plaze, conzidering it's located in the middle of ze Realm. Most usually find it by accident. It'z called Crosswind Hold. Home to underground markets and shady contractz. You know, my kind of place."

Kinessa smiled. She could easily imagine Maeve starting a new life in that environment, where her talents worked the best. She could actually imagine anyone with enough skill doing the same, escaping their old life and pursuing their passions.

Maeve spent the next few hours telling her stories she had heard about Crosswind Hold, as the sun crept down over the horizon without them knowing. Suddenly, a door to the dungeon opened. Viktor and Strix marched in. They unlocked the cell door.

"You can come out now, kid. Karne forgives you, but you have to clean his office."

She hardly heard Viktor's words as she walked out. She never wanted to see Karne again, or anyone who had denied the search. The whole leadership was her enemy at the moment.

"How about Maeve?" she asked as the door was banged shut.

"She's still facing trial in two days. Nothing we can do about her."

She looked at Maeve apologetically. She wanted to say everything would be fine, but it wouldn't. They had gotten confirmation that Khan, Lian's general and bodyguard, was already on his way to pick her up. After that, they would probably never see each other again. She could feel Maeve's begging eyes glued to her back when she exited the dungeon.

* * *

Kinessa collapsed in bed. They had went to Strix's apartment, since the barracks had been badly damaged in the attack. Tyra had been waiting for them.

"Nice hit on Karne. You're the talk of the whole city at the moment," she congratulated. Kinessa had just walked past her into her room and shut the door, obviously not in the mood for a chat. Tyra only stared at the door, then turned to face the other two.

"She hasn't gotten over it, has she?"

They both shook their heads. The trio knew their protege well enough to know she would eventually always do something about things that stood in her way. They would just have to wait and see what it would be.

Kinessa fell asleep, as the fatique finally caught up to her. Her dreams were not pleasant. She saw purple figures taking her into a place from where there was no escape. She saw giant, faceless mosters sending her away, not caring about any of her problems. She felt herself being cloaked in piercing darkness, which sapped her strength and replaced it with uncontainable bloodlust. Finally, she saw a little pink figure being thrown into a moving vehicle, never to be seen under the daylight again, her miserable screams filling her head before they were snuffed out. She woke up sweaty and gasping for breath after the intense nightmares, as the first rays of morning light shone into the room. She laid back down and tried to force herself back to sleep.

Visitors frequented in the house the whole day. Some had business with Viktor. Some asked for help in locating missing people. Some were looking for her, but Strix turned them all away. Kinessa spent the whole day in bed, thinking about her situation. She wasn't allowed to go after the attackers. She knew that in just few short weeks, their trails would be cold and and untraceable. Her team would have to move now, but the leadership had made it clear they prevented all operations until the city would be stabilized. She couldn't leave on her own, any unauthorized movement was forbidden. Every member of the army was needed, just in case they were attacked again. Leaving would be considered treason. She would lose her job, and her career would be over before it had even barely begun. All those years spent training, gone in a flash. She would disappoint her mentors. Nobody would want to hire a soldier who abandoned their position during a crisis.

But as she laid there thinking, she started to wonder new things, ones that hadn't crossed her mind before. Was army really for her? She had spent years training, yes, but that had always deep down been for herself, so that she could protect herself and the people she loved. Not the army. Not the Kingdom. Not the Magistrate. And even if she resumed, where would it lead? Years of service all ended in the same way for those resilient enough to continue: discharge and quiet retirement, in the confines of home. Or even worse: Being thrown in the middle of endless piles of paperwork. The thought made her sick. Everyone who knew her also knew that the thing she hated the most was being confined. But in the end, that's what military life was. Being forced to follow the orders of someone more important than you. During almost all of her ops, she had defied orders or somehow else ended up in positions that could have jeopardized the entire mission. She had been lucky, but how long would it last? How long until her stubborness would put one of her teammates at risk? Deep down, she knew her greatest need was to be free of responsibilities, of orders, and to do whatever she wanted. And at the moment, she wanted nothing more than to catch Skye and the Decimators.

Her thinking was cut off as she heard a knock on the door.

"Kinessa?" Tyra called. "Cassie is here, she says you had a meeting."

"Yeah, send her in."

The door opened, and the huntress stepped in. She seemed to be unharmed, but was limping her right leg.

"Are you alright?" Kinessa asked.

Cassie smiled. "I'm fine. I just took a hit from and enemy arrow, but it'll heal. But what's that under your eye?"  
"What?"

She touched her cheek. She had forgotten about the slice Skye had landed during their fight. To her surprise, it was still dripping blood. The wound wasn't deep, so it wouldn't be life-threathening, but it was strange considering the injury happened hours ago. Cassie came in closer to inspect it.

"Looks like a weapon with perma-wound curse. Whoever did this to you must have wanted to weaken you with multiple strikes before finishing you off," she diagnosed.

"Thanks for the info. Is it bad?"  
Cassie let out a short laugh. "A wound that deep? You couldn't die from it even if you tried. But I do have healing salve bandages if you don't want blood droplets on your clothes," she said and took out a small roll of cloth. She leaned in closer.

"May I?"

Kinessa nodded, and Cassie cut off a small rectangular piece from the bandage. She taped it over the wound.

"That should keep it from bleeding, but I'm afraid that if you'll never find the one who cursed the weapon and have them undo this, it'll leave a permament mark. But the bandage is almost undetachable if you don't wish it to, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Kinessa nodded again. She picked up a small mirror from the table and examined her face. The bandage was actually pretty good-looking, and she decided to keep it like this. It would remind her to kill Skye straight off the next time they met. She turned to look at Cassie.

"So, about the thing we were talking about before…"

"Yeah. You wanted to discuss our "inheritance,"" Cassie reminded her.

"Yes. Could you explain a little bit?"

The huntress seemed fidgety. "I cannot tell you much, since my own information is limited. Dad never had the time to tell me the whole thing before I left. But according to the stories, long ago, a great mage gifted my ancestor with an extraordinary ability. Over time, the magic meant to him started to manifest in his offspring, and over the decades, it has evolved into an innate ability that runs in my family only."

"And what's that said ability?" Kinessa questioned.

"Animal control. Out minds can connect into the thoughts of any animal and essentially allows us to communicate with them. Very useful in tracking prey, which is one of the reasons our kin is known as the greatest hunters in the Realm."

"And that's how you're such good friends with Zigs," Kinessa quessed. "But why aren't you running around with an army of bears or wolves or something like that?

"Because with our gift also comes a curse. In exhange for being able to talk to the children of the wilds, my family has been been confined to our homeland. Anyone who has tried to leave has had their power corrupted and turned against them, summoning only the fiercest beasts to attack them until they die." She paused. "But when I heard about Valera, I knew that she would save us from the Magistrate, and she needed supporters. But my father wouldn't let me leave. I was always his golden daughter, his masterpiece whom he could never loose. I love him deeply, but he cannot own me. So one night, ignoring the danger, I took one of his bows and left with Zigs. When I was about to step outside the boundaries, a mysterious woman who introduced herself as The Oracle of the Abyss appeared. She offered to remove my curse, but warned that I would also lose my skill in the process. Zigs tried to stop me, but I wanted to help the Realm too much, and accepted." Cassie shuddered, thinking about what happened next.

"The pain, Kinessa. Innate abilities are a part of us, much more than magic is a part of mages. It felt like a part of myself was being ripped off, something important being taken away and I would never be the same after it was gone. Then, as I thought I was going to die, some kind of substance flew from me to her hand. After that, I couldn't hear the animals again. The song of the wolves was now unfamiliar to me. The gossip of the boars now something I couldn't understand. But I could still hear Zigs. Even the oracle looked surprised, said nothing like that had ever happened. Somehow, our bond had only deepened, granting me the ability to see through the eyes of a bird. But at the same time, our lives had connected."

Kinessa was shocked. "You mean…"

"Yes," Cassie confirmed. "If either of us should perish, the other one dies as well.

"But Zigs is a bird. Birds live a lot less time than humans. What happens when he… you know…"

"That's not a problem. Zigs's lifespan is now the same as my own, considering it's not cut short," she assured to her. "Don't ask me how I know, it's just a strong feeling."

Kinessa hadn't been expecting to hear a tale like this from a girl younger than herself. She couldn't help but think how close to death Cassie had went when trying to get rid of her curse. Was this the life of all those with innate abilities? Was her skill also a curse? Would the world treat her rougher than the rest for what she was?

"How about you? Cassie cut her pondering. "What's your story? Where does your family come from?"

"I don't know," she answered. "I was left into a small village as a baby. I never met my real parents and have no idea about my heritage."

"Ooh, ominous," Cassie whispered. "So what can you do?"

Kinessa grinned. "This."

Suddenly, she disappeared from the bed. A second later, she appeared behind Cassie's back and poked her head.

"What the- what did you do? Are you super-fast? Invisible?"

"Good guesses, but wrong. I can trick my perception of time to slow down or speed up the world around me. My strength and speed also increase, but it's really taxing on my body."

Cassie was bewildered. "Suddenly being able to talk to birds doesn't feel as cool anymore.

A loud cawing was heard from the outside.

"Sorry Zigs, I didn't mean it, love you!" she shouted out the window.

She turned around. "Well, it was nice to talk. I've never met anyone outside of my family with an innate ability! I don't want to assume anything, but by your skin tone, I could suggest searching the southern desert cities for your kin if you ever feel like finding them."

"Thanks, I have considered it, but right now, I have bigger fish to fry." She examined Cassie and just now noticed the small backback she had.

"Are you going somewhere?"  
"Yeah," she replied. "I came here because I heard Valera had arranged a meeting with Karne, but when I found out she had already left, I started searching the surrounding area. Now I've heard rumors that she's returned to her base of operations for further plans."

"Really? Where's that?" Kinessa asked.

"In Crosswind Hold. Oh, you've heard of the place?" she asked as she noticed she soldier's surprise.

"I know that it's mostly known as the den of thieves, murderers, dealers and bounty hunters, but many there still support the ancient Paladins. The resistance against the Magistate is forming under their flag, and they have need for competent fighters. I'm just going to say goodbye to Fletch. She has been a real help during these few months. Bye!"

"Good luck. Maybe we'll meet again," Kinessa said to the huntress as the door was slammed shut. She collapsed back to bed.

Crosswind Hold. The place for new beginnings, where everyone unfit for normal life was welcome. Suddenly, her future brightened up. She knew what she had to do.

* * *

Day had turned to night and the night into early morning. Viktor, Strix and Tyra were all napping around the table as she entered the room. The closing of the door woke them up.

"Well, look who finally got up. How was your day?" Tyra asked without even bothering to hide her sarcasm. Kinessa was about to answer with a snarky remark, but decided to just cut to the chase. She would have to move quickly, before she changed her mind.

"I'm leaving."

The three soldiers were confused.

"Where? To the market?" Viktor asked.

"No. I'm leaving the city. The army. Everything."

They stared at her, unbelieving, as if seeing her for the first time. Kinessa prepared for the outburst of resistance. Then, as if on cue, they pulled out her rifle in its holster, her gear and a backpack from under the table on passed them to her. Kinessa was stunned.

"That's it? No objections? No house arrest? No reports to the officials?"

Tyra laughed. "Kid, we've thought about this the whole day, and in the end we all realized that the only thing you could do to make things go your way was by leaving. Don't act like we don't know you."

"Of course, it's a shame after all the training that you're leaving your career when you've barely gotten to start, but it's a disappointment we have to live with," Strix added.

Kinessa had no words. These people, who had taught her the importance of rules and following them, were helping her become a rogue on the run.

"Strix…" she started, but he stopped her.

"If you're really leaving us, then you never knew our names. To you, we're simply S, V and T, three strangers from a special unit that took care of you for a while."

Viktor stepped closer and handed her a key. "We know where you're going. We heard your little conversation. I'm sure you know what to do with this.

This time, she actually started to wonder if her vocal cords had broken up. She had expected this stunt from Tyra, but from the biggest adorer of the Magistrate in their little group? She took the key, without even managing to mutter a "thank you."

"You must hurry. Morning patrols will start in an hour, and we have to report any defectors as soon as we know about them, which is going to be about five hours from now. They'll send a small group after you, but stay down and keep a low profile for a couple of days, then you'll be fine," Strix instructed. Kinessa nodded. She grabbed her gear, attached her armor and slung the backpack on her shoulders. Then she took out her badge and stared at it for a few seconds. It was just a small metallic plate with her ID. Every army rookie was given one when they were accepted. Handing it over would mean giving up on safe, fast, easy and especially legal travel across the Realm. She could still turn back. She could resume her normal life.

No. She couldn't. Life had stopped being normal ages ago. Now it was time to fight back. She threw the badge on the table.

"Give that to the Chairman, preferably with a pneumatic cannon."

Tyra smiled. "After this, I think we'll get to cleaning duty for less. By the way, Sam asked us to tell you that he'd be more than happy to start resupplying your mines after the searches are called off if you send him your address."

Kinessa nodde. She was about to step out from the door, but turned around at the last second. Then, to everyone's surprise, embraced each of her mentors in a deep hug. Their relationship had been hug-free for over 9 years.

"Thank you," she whispered to each of them. Viktor patted her on the back.

"Don't worry about us. Just go, and don't look back."

She released him from the embrace and rushed out the door of a house she would never return to.

* * *

The streets were still empty, but sunrise was happening as she sprinted across the streets. She tried to take in the sights and smells of the city one last time as she went. Even with all the destruction, most were still there. The rippling of the fountains, the smell of the flowers, the training grounds, all the things she had grown to know and appreciate about the great city. It filled her mind with sadness to leave it all behind, even as she tried to suppress her emotions.

But she kept going.

She descended down into the dungeons. A lone guard was standing patrolling in front of the entrance. She barely had time to react before Kinessa knocked her out. She opened the door and dragged the unconcious body inside. Not wanting to waste any more time, she quickly made her way down the steps and entered the holding area. Maeve stood up in her cell as she approached.

"What'z going on? I thought zat my trial was zupposed to be in ze afternoon?" she asked with a small sense of dread in her voice. Kinessa fitted the key into the lock and turned it. The cell door flung open.

"You're not going to the trial. You're leaving. _We're_ leaving. Right now, before anyone sees us.

Maeve was visibly confused.

"But what about your career? Won't zat be ruined if you let a prizoner ezcape?

Kinessa was digging through her backpack.

"My career was over the moment they tried to prevent me from going. I need to go after those guys, and I can't do it from here. You need to take me to Crosswind Hold. I'll work bounties there for a living, and track down Decimator personnel by myself."

Maeve nodded. Kinessa finally managed to pull her tightly folded coat out. She threw it to its owner.

"It's missing 39 knives. Tyra couldn't figure out how to pack it properly, so you'll need to manage with those."

"Wait, your friendz are in on thiz?" Maeve's confusion deepened. She did appreciate the unexpected freedom, but things seemed to be moving a bit too fast.

"Yeah. I'll explain on the road. Gear up, we only have a few minutes."

Swiftly, Maeve threw the garment on, immediately comforted by its familiarness. Kinessa watched as she returned to her prime.

"Great. Now follow me, we have to leave this city behind as soon as possible," she said and began to lead Maeve out.

Sun was shining in full force, and some people were already walking around. The pair saw one patrol, but managed to hide before they were spotted. They took to the rooftops and started to make their way to the western gate that was the nearest to the dungeons. The journey took less than two minutes with no interruptions. Little did they know that one of their allies had snuck into the command center a few hours ago and changed the patrol routes so that they could have a safe passage. Before long, the mighty western gate appeared before them, the only one undamaged in the attack. It stood tall, acting as a final barrier to anyone trying to enter or leave. But they noticed it to be slightly open, sunlight illuminating a crack that could fit two escapees. In front of the gate, three figures stood. Kinessa's former teammates stared at them with steely eyes, in full gear. Their past unknown, their reasons unidentified, their names meaningless to the former soldier as she passed them. The one she knew as S grabbed her by the shoulder. They stopped. He held her in place for a minute, then slowly releasing his grip and letting his former protege go.

Kinessa and Maeve stepped though the gate. V, S and T kept staring down the street. Kinessa had to struggle to keep tears from flowing out.  
"Focus," she told herself. "Calm down."

Breathe in. Breathe out.

As the two renegades walked out to the open fields, Maeve turned and looked back one last time at the city where she had found herself, and the three unknown soldiers who had freed her from the shackles of her past.

Kinessa didn't.

* * *

End of Act II


	11. Chapter 11: The Resurgence

The Girl From the Middle of Somewhere

Part 11

The Resurgence

"BOOM! Headshot!"

The shot struck through the trees and made a sizeable on its target's forehead. The rider fell down, dead, as his companions cried out in surprise, drawing their weapons and trying to find the assailant. A bright light flashed somewhere far away, highly visible in the dark forest, but further investigation revealed that the assassin had been long gone by the time they made it to the spot. The men looked at each other with grim faces. Another high-ranking syndicate member had fallen to the mysterious sniper.

* * *

It had been seven months since the fateful day when Kinessa left the Sentinels. Journey with Maeve had been one with few words, but a lot of action. The first four days had been the hardest. That's when they first noticed their pursuers, the legendary Hunter squad. It seemed like the army was reluctant to let a highly-skilled elite soldier escape unsupervised out into the world, and thus dispatched their most effective unit to hunt her down. For the escapees, that meant a lot of crawling in the bushes, constructing makeshift shelters and giving up on eating and sleeping almost entirely. Those long days culminated in the confrontation with the pursuers, but the duo finally managed to escape when they cut the rope bridge of the Steeprock Canyon under the Hunter's noses, a stunt that almost cost Kinessa her arm. Five more days of travel finally brought them to their destination, Crosswind Hold.

The village was built in three levels. On the ground stood regular houses, similar to those in Easthaven. A few larger buildings, like the tavern, market and the Grand Headquarters of the Paladins dominated the streetview. The central town was surrounded by a thick forest. High up in the foliage was the upper layer, which consisted of sturdy treehouses and rope bridges. Hundreds of pathways interconnected the well-hidden homes of thieves, assassins and outlaws. But the real action was not amidst the leaves, but under the ground. A great gorge split the town in half, said to have been made in a battle between the ancient dragons and rock giants. Dozens of tunnels had formed in the canyon over the years and made up a complex underground structure. Black market dealers, bandits and cutthroats ruled this subterranean empire, where the weak would perish, but the strong could make a good amount of gold.

As Kinessa and Maeve broke through the treeline, they were greeted by hundreds of sights, sounds and smells coming from all the layers of the town. Kinessa had to catch Maeve, whose Half-Tigron senses were overloaded by the sudden shock of activity after days of quiet traveling, and almost made her pass out. Half dragging her companion to the town square, the sniper made her way to the local inn.

The innkeeper was a warm-hearted old dwarf called Calrum. He didn't seem dazed by the slightest when the girls told their story, having seen hundreds of their kind over the years.

"Well, as I'm sure you're well aware, you have to get your hands dirty to live here," he told them. "But you gals look like you can handle yourselves, don't you?" The sentence was followed by a glass of water being poured on Maeve's head, who screamed and lunged to the dwarf's neck, finally recovered from her shock. Calrum laughed.

"Yep, seems like it!" He picked Maeve up and threw her back over the counter, much to her displeasure.

"Well, I won't ask what you have done to have made your way here, but I can give you a few tips on how to make fast gold. I would suggest starting by making your way up to the trees. Find an elf by the name of Silian. She can explain how things work around here. Don't forget to ask her for directions, since it's quite easy to get lost up there. Find the Thieves Guild, Adventure Parties, Bounty Boards or whatever suits you and start earning some income. Once you get used to the place, you can try the Underground for more challenging jobs. The rest is up to you."

"Thank you Calrum, I think we'll manage!" Kinessa said and dragged Maeve out, who was busy swearing and throwing knives at the dwarf who just laughed and ducked behind the counter for protection.

Finding Silian wasn't as easy as locating the inn. As they later learned, she had to keep moving to evade every person she had pissed off lately, all 52 of them. Some were looking for revenge, some for money she owed them, some stolen valuables. Eventually they managed to locate the elf, hiding in the treetops as far away from the crowd as she could. It took some time to convince her to help, but she eventually agreed if the duo could get the mob off her back. That was the moment when the beforementioned mob decided to appear just as they sealed the deal. Not really keen on letting the elf or her new friends escape, they decided to do the sensible thing for any angry crowd: attack. The entire incident lasted less than a minute, but left a clear impression: the newcomers are not to be trifled with. With their newfound fame, Kinessa and Maeve both managed to pick up some higher-ranking jobs that were usually reserved for more experienced mercenaries. One of them was a high-paying hit on some lone veteran, too good to pass up. Kinessa accepted.

But as she stood there, looking through some retired soldier's window, she began to think. This guy had pissed someone off, and now that someone wanted him dead. But was it worth it? To kill someone just for a bit of coin? As a soldier she did it for peace and justice, but now? Only for her own selfish desires, to chase after old ghosts. Killing essentially one of her own to do so. Half an hour she stood there, watching as the man ate his dinner. He was lonely. No wife, no children, friends probably dead. She could have been him. Served years, fighting for the Magistrate, then retire to some quiet cottage haunted by her past. Just like she was now, but there was a difference: she was still moving. There was a force driving her actions, unlike this man who had given up a long time ago. And she knew that stopping now would be the end. There would be no more restarts. No more chances. Could she do it, throw it all away just for one guy, because of her old ideals?

She slung her rifle, took aim and pulled the trigger.

After the first one, it got easier. The second took less hesitation. And the third. And the fourth. With every shot, her heart grew colder, her old sense of honor fading, until eventually she felt nothing at all, every bounty just a job to execute, a nameless mark to exhange for precious gold which kept this world running. Her sense of humor returned at last, but mixed with her new life and feelings it wasn't the same. There was no more trace of Kinny Darkstalker, who had been entirely replaced with Kinessa, The Bounty Hunter.

* * *

Which brings us to the present, the day when Kinessa claimed her 100th bounty. Work had become plentiful as tales of her skills spread and the situation in the Realm was destabilizing. The Magistrate and Paladins were starting open battles, which created a lot of contracts as both sides wanted opposing commanders and key personnel dead. Today's target was just a normal criminal, not too challenging but a great shot nonetheless. It was quite easy to hit moving targets when you could slow down time itself with your mind. Her favorite by far had been a skydiver jumping from a zeppelin who had never gotten the chance to open his parachute. Kinessa chuckled as she recalled his lifeless body plummeting towards the ground.

An hour later she collapsed in bed. Her house was a small apartment in the canopy, which consisted of a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom. Several trophies and mementos from targets adorned the shelves. Various weapon kits and tools were lying around, and the kitchen was incredibly messy. A normal mercenary's apartment, with absolutely no clues hinting at her past. If some had bothered to inspect the whole compound, they would have found a lot of similar rooms.

But there was one major difference: one of the living room walls had been turned into a large target board, with various pieces of string uniting different memos and pictures like a conspiracy theorist would do. One of the pictures showed a large, bearded man with sunglasses, with an attached memo stating: "Viper, Lumber Village. No lead." Another showed a woman in a hood trying to hide her face. She was apparently "Midnight Stalker, Fish Market. No lead." A third picture was another man pointing two guns at the camera. His memo said: "Brawler. Brightmarsh. No lead. Note: Get a new informant. Someone who can run faster." This trend followed on, with dozens of new pictures, memos, locations, and notifications filling up the wall. But despite the differences, every picture was the same. No lead. No lead. No lead. _No lead._ Months of tracking down and killing agents of the Decimators had proven to yield no results. Their chain of command appeared to be incredibly small, with all targets which she thought had been big players in the organization proved to just be small fishes who knew nothing and gave her nothing, except pain and injuries. All had been adept fighters, and every fight had ended the same: her beating up the broken enemy after their interrogation, exhausted, bloodied and with a wild flame in her eyes, but all of them stating the same: "You'll never find them. Only they can find you."

And thus, she had left empty handed every time, dragged herself back to Crosswind Hold, and started the search all over again, hunting down new bounties every time she ran low on cash. As she did now. As Kinessa laid there, she began to think whether she should go to the inn and celebrate her 100th bounty with the her colleagues. She didn't exactly have friends, but fellow bounty hunters were more like "buddies." Close enough to spend time with, but not too close in case one of them was hired to kill the other. Many apartments in her neighbourhood had suddenly freed up when their owners had been hired to kill her by the families of Kinessa's former targets. She was used to it now, but it was sometimes a shame to go on a drink with some fellow professionals, only to wake up to them kicking in your door.

The thought was interrupted by her door getting kicked in.

Cassie stepped in to the sight of Kinessa scrambling to get her gun, but stopped when she noticed the intruder. She slowly stood up.

"Well, hello, Cass. Ever heard of knocking? New doors aren't exactly cheap," she greeted the huntress. Cassie, however, didn't seem to be in the mood for casual conversation. She glared at Kinessa with an unually murderous glance.

"Did you kill Bormin Goodwell?" she asked.

Kinessa quickly probed her memory. The name sounded familiar, but…

"Oh yeah! That guy, from couple days ago! Yep, that was me. How so?"

Cassie was practically fuming with anger.

"He was our second-in-command! Valera's most trusted liutenant! How could you do that?"

Kinessa sighed. "Well, sorry, but it was my job. That's what I do nowadays. If it makes you feel any better, he did put up quite the fight. Not that many can dodge my shots, much less fight back."

Suddenly, Cassie rushed in and punched her in the face. Hard. So hard that she fell down, completely immobilized by this sudden act of violence from a usually cheery and friendly person. Kinessa was in shock as she felt her cheek where Cassie's fist had connected, and looked up. The girl she'd seen so bravely defend the city gates, the one who'd abandoned her homeland and risked her life to join the rebel cause, was sobbing as if the world was ending.

"It's a miracle if we now even have a chance at winning! Our troops are in disarray, the Magistrate has raided multiple of our safehouses, even Valera herself doesn't know what to do! And it's all because of you! What happened to defending the Realm? What happened to the Kinessa I knew, who rushed headfirst into battle to defend the innocent? The one Fletch always spoke of so highly? What have you done to her, you no-good goblin-spawn?!"

"Well, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but she's gone, dissappeared when she realized that world is an unfair place and that to survive, you have to do things yourself. So whatever I'm doing to chase my goals is none of your damn business!" Kinessa shouted back.

"Don't you ever think about how others feel? How many widows you've made? How many children orphaned?" Cassie was practically begging by now, looking for any trace of remorse.

"No, I do not. The moment I start to care is the moment it's over, and I'm not ready for it. And nothing you say is gonna change it. So now what are you gonna do? Kill me?"

"In fact, yes. Valera has given orders to terminate you, and gave me the first shot because she knew we have history. But I decided to give you a heads up, a chance to run away and reconsider your actions. But now I see that it's useless. You're a lost cause," Cassie replied. She reached for her knife.

The unmistakable sound of guns being cocked was heard from behind her. Cassie slowly turned around, and saw Kinessa's neighbours standing in the doorframe, pointing at her with various weapons.

"Everything alright here, Nessa?" one of them asked.

"Yeah, we just had a friendly little reunion. Cassie was just about to leave," she replied.

"Please let her through. But if she tries to come back, you're free to do whatever you want. I hear vibrant red locks like that sell for a good price at the market."

Guns for hire cleared the doorway to let the huntress through. Cassie slowly turned around and took five slow steps, to not give any trigger-happy gunman an excuse to attack. She was shaken. at the door she turned around and took one last glance at Kinessa.

"And to think I almost considered you a friend," she muttered.

Kinessa scoffed at the comment as she disappeared from view. She got up and lifted the door back. She'd have to call a repairman in the morning.

And then she fell to her knees and screamed. She screamed at the world, at the unfairness of it, the powers that were making it run, the things she had to do to find a sliver of justice from this rotten realm she found herself inhabiting, the bonds she'd broken and could never mend. Cassie's visit had been like a slap to the face, (both figuratively and literally,) a reminder of the horror she'd caused, the monster she'd become to take down an even bigger one. She didn't try to contain it, she just screamed, allowing the raw emotion to pour out, in an effort to ease the suffering momentarily. She screamed for a minute, then two, her voice unwavering. Those who heard here steered clear of the apartment, most of them understanding what the resident was going through. The voice of pure pain cut through the foliage, but not of physical pain. No blade, no gun could possibly cause such suffering as the world had caused her.

Her scream ended after five minutes, and returned her world to a deafening silence.

She stood upright, gasping for breath. She couldn't let emotions run her life anymore, not when she'd chosen this course. There was no going back from this, so all she could do was bear it and play the game until the end.

Kinessa regained her composure and decided to go for a walk to clear her head. But she could take only two steps before the door fell down again. Outside stood Crode, her young informant, who had apparently tried to knock. Now he stood gazing at hist fist, in awe of the hidden strength within. Kinessa sighed.

"Control your drake-dreams, kiddo. The door was just kicked in five minutes earlier. You're not a demigod."

"Oh," the boy replied, looking a bit dissappointed. But then he perked up again.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that I've found another one. And I think this one is it. The big fish you've wanted. You just have to go and…" his voice faded away as he spotted Kinessa staring at him, completely unimpressed. She shook her head.

"You do remember you said that about the last one too?"

The boy nodded.

"Yes. It was The Vanguard, if I recall. At the Splitstone Quarry. And remember what he did to me?" she asked, her voice adopting a dangerous tone Crode failed to notice.

"Well, yes, but…" he managed to mutter before Kinessa lunged at his neck and lifted him up with one hand, murder in her eyes.

"He tried to shove my head into a lavafall! Do you have any idea how hard is it to find a mage whose specialty is GROWING HAIR BACK?! And then I had to kill everyone who laughed at me on the way home. Do you know how many there were?" She asked, her voice growing into a shout. Crode shook his head, gasping for air. His face was starting to turn blue.

"27. Twenty-seven. I had to kill TWENTY-SEVEN bystanders just to keep my reputation! And the worst part is he didn't know anything! He was just an enforcer, taking orders from a shadowy middleman. So do you REALLY think I want to hear from your "Big Fish" this soon? DO YOU?!" She exclaimed and let her grip loosen. The boy fell to the ground, gasping for breath. She sighed. This was just not her day.

"Whatever. Give me the guy, today has sucked anyway. A couple of broken ribs aren't gonna make it worse."

She picked up her rifle began to trek to the coordinates provided by Crode. It was nearby, at the old Warder ruins. A typical bad guy hiding place. A typical job. A typical day in the life of Kinessa.

"All right, Mr. Decimator Agent Number IDon'tEvenCareAnymore, shall we dance?"


End file.
